A Late Start
by Chainchomps
Summary: Blake Faraday is already seventeen, older than most new trainers. The local professor, however, senses an untapped potential, and arranges for him to receive a Pokemon. With help from new friends, Blake will take on an unusual mission for new trainers.
1. Chapter 1

The alarm clock was all that was needed to wake Blake from his sleep. He groggily reached over to the table beside his bed and slapped at it, wanting the racket to stop. When his hand felt nothing but the wood he slowly opened his eyes, one at a time. No clock to be seen.

He sat up. Today was shaping up to be a terrible day. And it was still early. Closing his eyes again, he fell back to the bed.

"I hid your clock, big brother. Good luck finding it," came the muffled voice from the other side of the closed door.

Blake inwardly rolled his eyes. It wasn't the first time she had done this. In fact, it was practically a daily routine. He sat up again and rolled to the side of his bed, getting up and heading towards his dresser. He opened up a drawer and pulled his clock out.

"You could at least find a new hiding spot!"

"I'm not hateful!"

"Well, I am!" Blake pulled a shirt out of the dresser and pulled it on, grabbing some pants he had left out the night before. As he tore out of the room, he noticed his sister turning the corner and making for the stairs. He ran after her, only stopping to grab his school bag before continuing through the open door.

"Later mom!" He yelled back over his shoulder. He heard his mom shout back, something about a note, but in his haste to catch his sister and make it to class, the words fell on deaf ears.

School was uneventful and boring, like every day.

"Faraday! Are you even paying attention?" the teacher snapped. Blake closed his eyes after a second more, taking in the view of the sky before turning to face his teacher.

"Sorry sir, just a little distracted."

"You can stare at the sky in detention, then. After class, you and me. Sounds good?" Blake inwardly cursed.

"I'll see you there, sir." This satisfied the teacher, who turned back to the board and scribbled more notes that wouldn't be copied. Instead of listening, Blake turned to his friend James.

"Where's Aaron? It's not like him to miss school."

"Didn't you hear? He left. Got his Pokémon from the professor and skipped town. Going out on his own adventure."

Blake thought about this for a minute. They were seventeen years old. They could have gotten a Pokémon at any time in the last few years. He had thought of it himself, although he was content with life at the moment. He opened his notebook and hastily scribbled a few notes on today's lesson.

Detention was spent napping. As Blake opened the doors leading out of the school, he squinted into the setting sun. Opening his bag, he pulled a hat out and put it on. Turning down the street, he noticed the elderly Pokémon professor struggling to carry some boxes a few buildings down.

"Professor, why don't you let me help you?" he said, jogging up beside him. The professor dropped the boxes into Blake's arms without a second thought, nearly causing him to collapse under the combined weight.

"I see your mother delivered my note. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show." Blake opened his mouth to respond, but vaguely remembered his mom mentioning something about a note as he was sprinting out the door this morning.

"Uh, sure." he replied. The professor nodded.

"Good. We're on a stakeout tonight. Something's been disturbing my lab, and you and I are going to catch it, whatever it is." the professor said. He opened one of the boxes that Blake had carried into the lab and took out two flashlights, handing one to Blake.

"These are special flashlights. They emit some sort of light that allows you to see ghosts. I don't really know, I'm not a doctor."

"Don't you have to be a doctor to become a Pokémon professor?" Unfortunately, the professor didn't respond. It was probably for the best. He was noted to be rather eccentric at times. Blake wasn't sure what he had gotten himself into.

"You know what, never mind. Why me though? I'm not even a trainer. You could have gotten someone a little more useful than me."

"Indeed I could have. Consider this a test of sorts." Hardly a satisfying response, yet Blake didn't have much time before night fell. As he finished unpacking the boxes for the professor, he looked outside and noticed the black sky. He hadn't realized how long he had been in detention, and regretted wasting his day. He had homework to do, so he set his school bag down and proceeded to grab a textbook out and sit at a table, only working for a moment before being smacked in the back of the head by none other than the professor.

"What are you doing, Faraday? We have an intruder to catch!" the professor said, leaning forward, "Don't get scared, but I think it's a ghost."

"Professor, there's no such thing. Unless you mean a ghost Pokémon. But you don't need a special flashlight to see those.."

"Quiet, boy, I'm the professor! Now get up, and help me search." The professor flicked the lights off before turning on his flashlight and prompting Blake to do the same.

"Sir, I don't see anything. Are you sure there's any-" Blake was cut off by a loud rattling sound, seemingly coming from one of the discarded boxes from earlier. "Right, I think I found it."

Blake stood and walked over towards the box, as quietly as he could manage. Upon reaching it, he knelt and prepared himself for what he was about to do. Inwardly, he counted, and as soon as he reached three, he grabbed the box and flipped it, throwing his weight on top and trapping whatever was in the box. A dull thudding noise sounded against the box. Whatever was under there wasn't happy. It couldn't have been very large to have fit in the box, but it was still managing to push the box around, even with Blake's full weight on top.

"What now?" he asked the professor.

"Lift off." the professor replied.

"Lift o- whoa! " The box began to rise, and Blake along with it. After pulling him off of the ground a couple of feet, it stopped. The trapped creature then floated out of the box, leaving nothing holding the box up.

"Oh damn." was all Blake had time to say before crashing to the floor. Seeing a flash of red light, he winced and picked himself up.

"Don't worry about me, professor. I'm fine. Glad I could help." he put in sarcastically. The professor nodded.

"Invaluable, believe me. Well, that's all then. I suppose it was a Pokémon after all. Say, I don't suppose you'd like to keep it?" He didn't wait for a response and threw the Pokéball to Blake, who caught it after fumbling it for a second.

"I didn't even get to see what it was." The professor didn't listen to him, and instead pushed him out of the door hastily, throwing his school bag out behind him.

"My god.. Such a crazy old man." Blake stood up and dusted himself off. He looked at the Pokéball he was holding for a moment.

"Am I a trainer now? I didn't really earn this. I don't even know what type of Pokémon it is." There would be time for that later though, and he attached the ball to his belt and began his walk home. Today had been rather stressful, and he would be glad to get some sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

It took a ray of sunlight refracted into Blake's eyes to wake him up the next morning. He hadn't noticed how tired he was when he went to sleep. Further attempts at rolling over and covering his face were futile, and eventually he sat up and decided to start his day.

"At least it's the weekend." he thought to himself as he got dressed. Going to his desk to grab his phone, he saw the lone Pokéball sitting next to it.

"I had probably ought to do something about this." Blake grabbed the ball and looked at it for a moment, before turning it in his hands and pressing the button to release whatever was inside. One flash of red light later, and a shape took its form in front of him. As his eyes quickly adjusted to the flash, Blake saw a Pokémon standing, or rather floating, in front of him. He sized it up. It wasn't really a Pokémon he was familiar with, not that meant much. There weren't many Pokémon in town, other than a few the professor kept in his lab.

The Pokémon made eye contact with Blake, not making a noise as it gently floated up to the ceiling. Its spherical purple body bobbed a little as it made contact, sounding almost hollow. Two 'arms' dangled from the sphere, ending in what looked like a yellow heart. Plastered on its face was an 'X' shape, the same color of yellow. A puffy, cloud-like thing stuck to the Pokémon's head. The two stared at each other for a second.

"~floon." Blake had no idea where the sound came from, because it appeared that the Pokémon had no mouth. Still, he knew it was the source.

"Um. Hi. We met last night, I guess. Remember me? I'm Blake." No expression came across the Pokémon's face. To be truthful, Blake wasn't sure it could show emotion.

"I'm heading out. Are you coming with me?" he asked it. No response. As he shrugged and headed out the door, the Pokémon floated down from its perch on the ceiling and followed behind him. Blake nodded and headed downstairs.

In the kitchen, Blake found a note from his sister, telling him that she and their mother would be gone for most of the day, and wouldn't be there to see him off. He finished reading the note, then crumpled it up and threw it away. He had no idea what she was talking about, but knowing her, it was probably just some sort of prank.

"First things first. Food. What do you eat?" More staring. Blake was not particularly easily creeped out, but the Pokémon still made him somewhat uneasy.

"Right. Well, I'm going to eat." Blake stepped over to a cabinet and grabbed a bowl, then poured some cereal into it from a box that was left on. He turned towards the refrigerator to get milk. Upon turning back, he poured the milk into the bowl only to notice that there was nothing else inside.

"Wait. Did you eat that?" Again, no response aside from a few blinks. "Whatever." He grabbed another bowl, and filled it again, putting it on the table. "You can have this."

After breakfast was over, Blake headed outside, his Pokémon still following. He walked down the street towards the lab. Knocking upon arrival, he heard the sound of locks sliding, at least five or six. He hadn't really noticed those before.

"Yes?" The professor gave him a quizzical look.

"Why do you have so many locks on your door?" Blake asked the foremost question in his mind.

"Security reasons of course. One can never be too safe. Now, I know that's not the reason you're here. Or at least if it is, you must be very strange in the head. I might regret picking you."

"Hey, I'm strange? Wait, pick me for what?" It was Blake's turn to look uninformed. The professor frowned.

"Didn't your mother give you my note? I'm sending you out on your own." Blake's eyes widened.

"You can't do that! I don't know anything about Pokémon! I don't even know what this one is called. It just follows me around and stares at me. I have no idea what I'm even supposed to feed it! Other than cereal, I suppose." The look shifted back to the professor.

"You fed your Drifloon cereal? I guess that works." The professor cocked his head to the side, apparently pondering some important detail.

"It was an accident. Back to the point. Why me?"

"Why not? Listen, Blake. I knew your father. He was one of the best trainers that I ever had met. It wasn't that he trained harder than anyone else. He was just a special person. He could connect with nearly any Pokémon. I sensed that you have the same potential. Untapped, maybe. But it's there. You're what, seventeen? It's time we acted on this." The professor suddenly took on a somber tone. Blake did the same. He had no memories of his father, who had been gone since Blake's sister was born.

"Potential? What am I supposed to do with this potential? I'm no trainer." he argued.

"I've already set this up. You're going to Olivine City to meet some of my friends."

"Olivine? I've never heard of it."

"It's a beautiful port city in Johto. You'll be heading out in a few hours. I've already checked with your mother, she said she left a bag for you with some basic supplies at home. Surely you noticed? Is this the first you've heard of this?" the professor inquired.

"This is the first I've heard of anything! I've never even left the island, how am I supposed to get to Johto?" Blake asked, aghast.

"Here's your ticket." the professor said, handing him a stub of paper. "It's nothing fancy, just another friend doing me a favor. You'd better get going. The port is nearby, but you might have to pack some extra stuff." And with that, the professor shooed Blake out the door. The locks could be heard again.

Blake stood at the doorstep for a moment, blinking a few times and taking everything in. In a matter of days, his life had been turned upside down. He turned to look at Drifloon, who seemed to almost have shrugged at him with his stringy arms.

This was crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

Sure enough, there was a bag with supplies at home. Enough clothes to last him a little while, some money, and surprisingly enough, some new trainer supplies: potions and Pokéballs and such. Blake was left feeling somewhat resentful. He felt like he was the only one that didn't know anything anymore.

"I don't know why I should do any of this. This is ridiculous. I'm not a trainer. I don't even know why I have a Pokémon.. No offense." He looked up at the floating Drifloon, bobbing against the ceiling again. Blink. Blink. Drifloon didn't seem to have much thought on the topic. "What do you think." The same shrugging motion as before, if it could be called that.

Blake went back to his thoughts. It wouldn't be all bad. He had thought about becoming a trainer. Still, he was a little old. And new trainers usually had some idea of what they wanted to do. He had never studied battling techniques, or contests, or breeding. There were no gyms on the small island he lived; there were only a handful of cities. The professor had only moved there around the time Blake was born, in fact. The training of Pokémon was usually left to people from the mainland. Eventually, Blake made up his mind.

"I guess.. I guess I could give it a try. I mean, I have enough money here to get a ticket back home if I need to. I have supplies. It's like a vacation. Yeah. I think I can handle this." He checked his watch to see how much time he had left. Time was running low. He grabbed a pen and a loose sheet of paper to scrawl a quick note to his family, a basic goodbye. Running up to his room, he grabbed the rest of his important belongings and packed them in his school bag. It wasn't particularly designed for trainers, but then again, he never had been the organized type. Going back down the stairs, he grabbed his bags, and looked up at Drifloon.

"You ready to go?" he asked. Drifloon made no response, but floated down the door and wrapped an arm around the knob. Even without arms, he managed to turn it and open the door. Blake's eyebrows raised, but he followed, closing the door behind himself.

Before he left, Blake wanted to stop by the professor's lab. He jogged over, not wanting to waste time; it would take a minute or two just for the locks to be undone. It seemed, however, that the professor was waiting for him.

"Your bus gets here in five minutes. You'd better get to the stop." It seemed the professor knew the decision Blake would make even before he had made it. "Here's my number if you need to contact me. In fact, you should probably call when you make it to Olivine." He handed over a slip of paper. Blake pocketed it and nodded.

"Thanks. I will. And, uh, thanks for the opportunity." The professor nodded back and headed back indoors. Blake turned and jogged towards the bus stop.

The port city, one of the bigger cities on the island, was only twenty minutes away. Blake was lost in thought and narrowly avoided missing his stop. Thankfully Drifloon was paying attention. As he stepped off the bus, he noticed that all eyes were on the two. Many people had not seen Pokémon, especially the younger children. A few pointed, but Blake took no offense. They were curious, and they had the right to be. He might have done the same thing a few days before, in a more subtle way.

He stepped off the bus into the crowded city, or crowded in comparison to his home town. He set his bag down and pulled the directions he had been provided out from a side pocket. Finding the location of his harbor, he pocketed the paper and headed towards it, feeling in the other pocket for his ticket. The building was only a few blocks away, and he reached it shortly, but something caught his eye in an alley off to the side.

"Just leave me alone. I didn't do anything to you!" The speaker was a girl, probably close to Blake's age. Her face was obscured by the distance and her long blond hair, reaching to her shoulders. The apparent assailant was an older guy, maybe a few years older than Blake was.

"Look, I warned you, and you didn't listen. You had to follow me, and I could do a lot worse. Just give me your money and I won't hurt you." That was all Blake had to hear. He dropped his bag at the entrance to the alley and headed down.

"Leave her alone," he started, "or else." Even standing as tall as he could manage, the older boy was a few inches taller. He looked into Blake's eyes with a steely gaze, made even more chilling by the icy blue color.

"Oh look, kiddo wants to play the hero. I'm not afraid of you, kid. I could take you alone, but unfortunately for you, I'm not alone." The kid pulled a Pokéball off his belt and released the Pokémon inside. The Pokémon floated above the ground, similarly to Blake's Drifloon, but the similarities stopped there. It looked like a spherical ball of ice with horns, and indeed it gave off a chill, misting the area around it, even in the warm weather. Blake glanced over at the girl, whose eyes appeared to widen for a second, before looking at him, in almost a worried sort of way.

"This is your only chance, kiddo. Head on out now, and I'll forget all about you." The icy Pokémon glared at Blake, breathing out with a small gust of cold wind, just enough to make his arm hair stand on end.

"No." Drifloon floated down to put itself in between Blake and the Pokémon. The other boy just laughed.

"Kiddo's got a friend too? Still, I don't think this little runt can handle Glalie. Give them a taste of Powder Snow to start off with." Glalie took in a sharp breath, then exhaled, with an even stronger gust of chilled wind, complete with small ice crystals. Blake turned to cover his face, but Drifloon had another idea. Small he may have been, but fast as well. Drifloon moved around the Glalie, directly towards the trainer, looping his small arms through the belt loop and then took off. Even a small Pokémon packs power, and Drifloon was able to pull the boy off of the ground, and didn't stop until they reached a good distance. Facing the ground, the boy flailed, causing a drop of a few inches, which only made things worse.

"Drifloon, what do you think? Let him hang around? Or should we just let him get out of here?" Blake asked. Drifloon gave his signature shrug, which caused the boy in his arms to bounce a little. A second later, Drifloon dropped him and the boy fell a couple of feet and crashed onto the ground.

"Alright! We've had our fun. Don't think we're done here, kiddo. I can guarantee we'll meet again." The boy flashed a smirk at Blake, before walking past him, making sure to bump him, shoulder to shoulder. As soon as he had departed, Blake turned to the girl, who had been silent the whole time. She looked up at him.

"Thanks. Troublemakers, huh?" She smiled at him. Blake blinked, trying to think of a good response.

"Uh, no need to thank me, ma'am." he stammered, turning a little red as she gave a short laugh. "I mean, my Drifloon did most of the work. I didn't even think of that." She reached up and pet Drifloon, who seemed to be genuinely happy, the first emotion it had ever shown.

"It's okay, even the sidekick deserves some credit. I'm Jordan. Jordan Caldwell." She offered a hand. Blake held his out and they shook.

"Blake Faraday." She smiled again. "Nice to meet you."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're here for the boat, right? I'm on the same boat. We should probably go now. It leaves soon." She picked up a small bag at her feet, and threw it over a shoulder.

"Uh, yeah." He grabbed his, but she was already waiting at the entrance to the alleyway. She winked at him, and he felt his face go red again. He was pretty sure she had noticed, too, because she gave another laugh.

"Come on then." He followed her towards the dock, where they presented their tickets and stepped aboard. Once they had found their rooms, they met back on the deck, where the questions began.

"So what takes you to Johto?" Blake started.

"I'm actually from Olivine. I'm only here to pick someone up."

"Really? Who is that? You look like you're alone to me."

"I'm not alone though. I've already picked up my target." He pondered this for a second before it hit him.

"Me? We just met though!" She gave her short laugh again and nodded.

"I believe that the good professor has arranged for you to meet a friend of his? That would be me." she said.

"I was just expecting someone a little older, that's all." he replied, trying to save himself. Still, he wasn't too disappointed. Being picked up by a cute girl was definitely not the worst that could happen. She stuck her tongue out at him.

"I'm plenty old. I'll have you know, I'm a higher ranked trainer than you are right now, Mr. Faraday. I could have handled myself back there, but you looked so gallant, I thought I'd let you give it a try. Don't worry, you weren't ever in any danger. I was there to protect you." She winked at him again and turned to walk the deck.

"Now, wait just a minute…" Blake chased after her. The voyage would be an overnighter and would give him a chance to learn what he could, providing he could keep up with her. She looked back at him over her shoulder.

"Let's walk and talk."


	4. Chapter 4

The pair made their way around the deck a few times, with Jordan teaching Blake some basics he would need to know to be a trainer, such as type advantages. Drifloon was nowhere to be seen, but Blake was fairly confident that it could handle itself. Eventually, the talk turned back to a more casual topic.

"So, what's the plan? Why am I going to Johto in the first place?" Blake asked. Jordan shrugged it off.

"I can't tell you yet. I'll tell you when we get there, okay? For now, let's just relax. There will be plenty of business to take care of there." She sat down on at a table and Blake took the seat across from her. A waiter came up shortly and they ordered drinks, but before the waiter could make it back, a man in a sailor's outfit came up, out of breath and in a hurry.

"Miss Caldwell, we need your help!" She frowned immediately.

"What's wrong? Engine trouble?"

"No.. Worse." He leaned closer to her and whispered something that Blake couldn't quite catch. Jordan's eyes widened slightly before returning to her relaxed look.

"Don't worry about it, we'll take care of it." The sailor bowed and headed back to his job. Jordan stood up, pulling Blake along by the sleeve.

"We just got a job."

"Wait, what? How did that guy even know you?" Blake was confused. Without stopping, she answered him.

"The boat is from Olivine. I don't mean to brag, but I'm fairly popular there. They've got a problem, and we're going to have to solve it. This wasn't really part of the plan, but it should be okay. I doubt they've sent anyone of too high a rank."

"They? Who's they?"

"Have you heard of Team Rocket?" she asked. Blake thought for a moment.

"I guess. I mean, I've heard the name on the news. They're the bad guys, right?"

"Sort of. There's apparently a problem going on with the cargo. The captain was told that there's a man in all black down there, and he's afraid it's a Rocket. He's asked me to take care of it. Luckily, there's two of us now. Don't worry, you can be the backup for now." Drifloon, through some unknown power, decided to make his reentrance at that moment, floating up behind the two. Jordan led on to the cargo hold, and Blake was glad she had an idea of where they were going. Shortly, the group reached a heavy steel door, padlocked at some point, although the lock lay broken on the ground.

"That's probably not a good sign." Blake thought. Jordan pushed open the door, and looked into the room. It was silent for the most part, but what sounded like a machine running in the background could be heard due to the echo it was giving off.

"I think I know what that machine is. I just have no idea what it's doing here. I should have been told about this." She seemed upset, but quickly got over it. "Oh well, we'll just deal with this." Heading down the stairs, the noise got louder, as if they were moving closer. Moving towards the sound, Blake eventually saw a large machine, or maybe even a pair, since it was made up of two chambers. Hardly able to be heard over the noise of the machine was what sounded like the shouting of a man.

"This thing is so heavy! Why would they only send one person to steal a huge machine!" The man took off his hat and wiped his brow, allowing Jordan and Blake to see the red 'R' on the front.

"That's our guy." Jordan said, before running ahead. "Well, well, well, Mr. Rocket. It doesn't look like that belongs to you. Why don't you just come with me and we'll get this all sorted out above deck, huh?" The man jumped, startled by the unexpected noise, then saw the speaker.

"It's just a little girl! Jeez, babe, you had me scared for a minute. I think you might want to head up alone, I wouldn't want to have to rough you up." The trainer grabbed a Pokéball with each hand and released both Pokémon at the same time. Blake actually recognized these, probably from a TV show. One was a Machoke, which towered over Jordan, and the other was a Breloom, smaller but still dangerous. Jordan reached for her own Pokéball and released her Pokémon, what looked like a child wearing a dress, spinning like a dancer. Blake hurried down to help her out, analyzing the situation at hand.

"Let me take Breloom." he said, and Jordan simply nodded. "Drifloon, let's go!" Drifloon floated down and glared at Breloom, doing its best to look menacing. The Rocket moved first.

"Machoke, give it a Karate Chop! Breloom, Mach Punch!" Blake turned to deal with his opponent. Jordan had mentioned that she was able to handle herself, but he was still a little worried. Breloom moved too quickly for Drifloon to dodge, but the punch went harmlessly through his body. Blake smirked. He was glad that Jordan had mentioned type advantages, which gave him the idea to pick Breloom as his opponent. Drifloon was a ghost, and could take nearly everything Breloom had to throw, but also a flying type, which would give him the offensive advantage too.

"Drifloon, give it a Gust attack!" Drifloon puffed up, swelling as it took in air, then released it at the Breloom, who was hit head on. Gust wasn't a particularly strong attack, but it was enough to knock Breloom down. As it slowly climbed up, Blake took a glance to see how Jordan was doing.

"Kirlia, use Reflect! Follow up with a Confusion!" Kirlia closed her eyes and focused, opening them just in time to set up a mental wall in between the attacking Machoke and herself. As the Karate Chop was deflected, Kirlia pushed forward with her mind, knocking Machoke onto the ground as well. The Rocket grunt ground his teeth, frustrated with the results of the battle.

"Gah! Machoke, Cross Chop! Breloom, Seed Bomb!" Breloom tensed up, and then fired a large seed at Drifloon, hitting him directly, but not doing much aside from knocking him back a few feet. It seemed the grunt was too distracted to notice he was at a disadvantage. Before Blake could fire off a command, Drifloon began charging a glowing black ball of energy before launching it at the Breloom, landing it on its chest, knocking it out cold.

"Shadow Ball, not bad." Jordan commented. "Kirlia, don't let him get to you! Psychic!" Kirlia's eyes began to Glow, and Machoke faltered in the middle of its attack, being assaulted mentally. It was a losing battle, and Machoke fell to the ground, unconscious as well. The grunt let out a yell, and made to run for it. He had to run past Jordan and Blake, the latter of the two tackling him as he ran by.

The man had been turned over to the captain, who had set some sailors to guard him and have him arrested when they landed. Blake caught up to Jordan, who was waiting for him at the table they had been sitting at before.

"Everything taken care of?" she asked. He nodded.

"What was that machine? It must have been important, if he wanted to steal it so badly."

"It belongs to an inventor named Bill. Truthfully, I don't know exactly what it does. Something about a transporter. Those two chambers are separate machines, and allow you to instantly travel from one to the other. I think it's still a prototype, but I don't know why it's here in the first place."

"How did you know this? I'm beginning to think I'm missing something around here.." Blake sighed.

"Well, I was planning on telling you when we got to shore, but I feel a little better about telling you now. The professor sent you to Johto because Team Rocket has been emerging again throughout Johto and Kanto. And it's not just them. Team Magma and Aqua are clashing all over Hoenn, Team Galactic in Sinnoh, and even Team Plasma from Unova. The professors have been hand picking a certain few trainers to combat this. Professor Elm picked me out only a few months ago, so I'm a little new to this too, but I've already established some sort of a reputation, at least in Johto. Your friend, the professor, decided you would be a good candidate, and he sent you to help. Remember the scene in the alleyway? That was actually a setup. The older guy was another member of our team. His name's Isaac, you'll probably meet him again later. This little incident, however, was unplanned. You handled yourself well, though, and I've already talked to Professor Elm. He agrees that you'd be good for this, if you're up for it."

This was a lot to take in at once. Blake blinked a few times, stunned.

"You can think it over, we'll arrive tomorrow and you can decide then. Although, how could you not want to spend more time with me?" She winked, and he blushed.

"I think she's noticed my little crush," Blake thought, and on cue, Jordan laughed, as if she knew what he was thinking.

"Oh well. Nice job in the battle back there, though. Did you plan that far ahead or was that just another display of heroic will and dumb luck?" She smiled at him, but he frowned.

"Hey, I knew what I was doing! I mean, my teacher looked a little panicked, but I'm a quick learner." Two could play at this game, and he teased her back. She pouted for a second, and punched his shoulder.

"You've still got a lot to learn. Where should we start?"


	5. Chapter 5

Luckily, the rest of the voyage was uneventful. Jordan continued teaching Blake about different types of Pokémon, explaining gym battles and contests, and general information on Pokémon training.

"I have a book, if you want to study." Jordan held up a small guidebook.

"Hah, I don't even study for school. I think I'll be okay. Like I said, I learn pretty quickly. Do you, uh, want to get dinner? It's getting kind of late." Blake fought to control his expression of disinterest, although he wasn't sure he even convinced himself.

"Oh, I don't know. I'll have to check my schedule" She replace the guidebook, pulling a planner out of her bag. "Hmm.. Looks like I'm pretty busy."

"You're kidding. Right?" She punched him in the shoulder.

"Of course, you dope. Come on, there's a food court over here."

Some time later, the two headed back to their rooms. They were across the hallway from each other, so they stood in the hallway for a moment.

"I still can't believe you made me pay for your dinner too." Blake feigned disappointment; he had been planning on doing so anyway and she seemed to have picked up on it. Either that, or she wanted the free meal. Still, he had offered dinner.

"Well, it's only fair. You owe me for teaching you. Plus, I'm a lady, so you should be a gentleman in return." She pouted for a second, pretending to be upset. Blake rolled his eyes, and the two shared a laugh.

"You're making it sound like a date."

"Wasn't it?" she asked. Blake shrugged back.

"Up to you." She smiled and looked him in the eyes for a moment, before moving closer and giving him a quick hug.

"Don't you think you're moving a little too quickly? I mean, we just met." She teased. "I had fun tonight, though, so I'll say yes, it was a date. Play your cards right and maybe there will be more." She winked, before retreating into her room. Blake hardly recognized the words she offered, zoning out at the hug. He stood for a minute or two, before unlocking his own door and heading inside. He kicked off his shoes and flopped down on the bed, sighing. This day had turned out much better than the last few, and although everything was still hectic, he thought he could get used to this. He had already made a friend, if that was all she was. Blake couldn't help thinking about her, but before he knew it, he was asleep.

The next morning, Blake was awakened by a pounding on his door.

"We're almost there! We've got enough time for breakfast if you hurry up!" Blake sat up and rubbed his eyes. He ran a hand through his hair before climbing out of bed and opening his door.

"Why so early?" he asked, earning him an eye roll.

"It's almost noon. You sleep too late. Go get dressed, you're indecent." Jordan ordered. A few minutes and Blake was ready to go. Jordan led the way to the food court, and they piled their plates at a buffet. Once they were seated, Blake released his Drifloon from the Pokéball and offered some cereal, which was quickly eaten.

"So, do we have any plans once we reach land?" Blake asked. Jordan pulled out her planner.

"Not really. I mean, if anyone needs anything, that could change, but nothing scheduled yet. I'll show you around the city, okay?" Blake nodded.

"I'd like that."

After breakfast, they returned to their rooms to get their belongings, then headed back up to the main deck to wait. When the boat landed, Blake followed Jordan down the ramp.

"Well, first thing's first. We can drop off our stuff at my place. You can stay with me while you're here." Jordan offered.

"Will your parents mind?" A quick flash of emotion came across Jordan's face before she regained control.

"I live alone. Don't worry about it." Blake could tell something had upset her, but decided to drop it for the moment.

"Sorry." She nodded, and motioned for him to follow as she head off toward her house. On the way, she pointed out some of the local buildings, restaurants, museums and the local Pokémon Center. One of the more interesting things was the lighthouse, which could be seen from all parts of the city. Eventually, they reached Jordan's house. Blake stepped inside and took everything in.

"Impressive. Where do I stay?"

"Well, there's only one bedroom, so you get the couch. And don't even make a joke." She pointed a finger at him.

"I would never." Blake tried to sound hurt, but although he wouldn't admit it, he had been thinking the same thing. She rolled her eyes.

"Just drop your stuff of for now. We can go do something and we'll worry about all of this later. Have you ever been fishing?"

"Of course, I lived on an island. Do you have somewhere in mind?" Jordan nodded.

They fished for an hour or so, renting rods down by the dock where their boat had landed. There had been no catches yet, but neither was very worried about this. They made small talk, when suddenly Blake felt a tug on his line. He jumped a little before reeling in, but whatever was on the other end was fighting hard.

"Hey, give me a hand. I've got a bite, and it's pretty strong." Jordan set her fishing pole down and moved to help him. Even Drifloon floated down to help. The three pulled for a minute, before making any gain. After a short struggle, they managed to pull the Pokémon ashore, falling back themselves. Blake quickly sat up to see his catch. A small orange fish flopped around on the dock.

"A Magikarp.." Jordan had noticed too, and immediately fell back down, holding her sides.

"Ahahah! You needed help pulling in a Magikarp!"

"Hey, it took all of us! You couldn't have done it either!"

"Ahahaha!"

"I don't see you catching anything!"

"Ahahaha!" Blake let out a deep breath.

"Whatever. It's pretty strong, it might be worth catching. Drifloon, give it a Gust attack!" The wind hit the Magikarp directly, but with no noticeable reaction. The fish continued to flop around uselessly.

"Uh. Okay?" Blake took an empty Pokéball out of his bag and threw it. The ball absorbed the Magikarp, and immediately was still. Blake moved over and picked it up, but as soon as he held the ball, it broke open, and the fish flopped right onto him, knocking him over and sending Jordan into a fresh laughing fit. Blake stood back up, angry at this fish.

"Get in the ball, dammit!" He threw the Pokéball again, and gave his best death-glare. The Magikarp had no way of knowing this, of course, but it made him feel better about himself. As soon as the ball was still, he grabbed it and threw it into his bag.

"If it breaks out again, I'll worry about it later." Jordan eventually finished laughing.

"Ahah.. you're terrible at catching Pokémon." She wiped her eyes.

"I've never had to catch one before.. The professor caught Drifloon, and this is only my second battle ever, if you can even count that." Blake frowned. Jordan stood up beside him and smiled.

"Don't worry too much about it. You'll learn. Anyway, we should probably head out. It's time for food.

After they ate, Blake and Jordan walked around the town and checked out some of the local attractions. They stopped at a museum, but neither was terribly interested. Nothing was on at the movie theater, and they ended up wasting the rest of the day walking around. Eventually, they ended back up at the house. Blake held the door for her, and they stepped inside.

"Do you want to check out the lighthouse tomorrow?" Jordan asked. Blake considered, then nodded.

"Sure. Can we get up to the top?"

"I'll ask Jasmine, but probably, yeah. I'll go in the morning. I think now is time for bed though. Goodnight." Jordan walked to the top of the stairs, nodded at him, then entered her room. Blake changed clothes and laid down on the couch, thinking back on the day as he fell asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, wake up. Blake. Wake up. Blake!" Blake's eyes slowly fluttered open, and he looked right into Jordan's, a nice shade of sea foam green.

"Hi, I'm Blake." She rolled her eyes and stood up.

"You sleep way too late. I know I promised we'd visit the lighthouse, but Jasmine said they're undergoing repairs. She said that it would probably be cleared enough for us to visit by tomorrow. How about the beach? We can head just outside of town. It'll be fun. You know how to swim?"

"I learned how to swim before I could walk."

"Figures. Let's go, I already packed some stuff. We can picnic there." Jordan tossed a bag at him, landing on his chest as he was still on his back, trying to get back to sleep. She rolled her eyes and pulled him off of the couch by the leg.

"Wake up!"

After he was dressed, Blake left the house with Jordan, carrying both his bag and her own as punishment.

"You're terrible to me." He made is unhappiness known. She smiled at him.

"I'm great to you. Now hush." She grabbed her bag from him as they arrived at the spot she had picked out, pulling out a towel and spreading it on the ground. Blake followed suit, and then lifted his shirt over his head. Brushing his bangs out of his eyes, he looked at Jordan to see that she had already laid down on her towel.

"Not going to swim?"

"Nah, I was just going to tan." She hardly had enough time to pull out some sunglasses before Blake had picked her up.

"What are you doing?" He gave her his best mischievous grin.

"Swimming was your idea." Jordan's eyes widened as she realized what was going to happen.

"Oh my god- Blake, if you even- don't think about-I'll kill you-I didn't change!" He still wore his stupid grin as they got closer and closer. She fought the whole way, but Blake had the size advantage.

"Let me go! Wait, I mean -ahhhh!" With a splash, Jordan landed into the ocean. Blake stood alone, proud of himself.

"That's for laughing about my Magikarp. Finally, a Splash I don't hate hearing. Woah!" Still underwater, Jordan got her revenge by taking Blake out at the ankles. It was Jordan's turn to stand with the look of victory, but only for a second, as Blake tackled her. The two rolled in the shallow water, neither wanting to give up first. Eventually, a victor arose.

"I have no idea how you managed to win this." Blake was pinned to the sand, with Jordan putting all of her weight onto him. They were both soaked, although Jordan was still in her clothes. She gave a devilish grin.

"I'm the better trainer."

"I fail to see how that has anything to do with anything right now." Blake looked up at her, waiting for a response.

"Shut up." She leaned down and kissed him. Blake's mind was empty of everything for the moment, and he wasn't entirely sure when the kiss ended. When it did, she looked down at him expectantly.

"Well?" she asked.

"You.. you have seaweed in your hair." She stifled a laugh and hit him in the chest before climbing off of him.

"You're completely oblivious. I don't even know why I bother with you!" Jordan gave an exasperated sigh.

"My unmatched charm and wit, I suppose." The two walked back to the towels, where they crashed for a moment. Suddenly, the ground shook, faintly but still noticeably. An explosion could be heard down the coast. Jordan sat up immediately.

"I don't like the sound of that. We should go check it out." Blake sat up and nodded. He pulled his shirt on and ran with her across the beach towards the sound. Eventually the coastline ended, and Blake was at a loss of what the source of the noise could be. Jordan, however, knew the area.

"There's a cave off the coast a little bit. The current here is strong, so we can't swim it, and the beach ends. We need a Pokémon that can use surf. Luckily, I've lived here all my life. Your Magikarp won't come in much handy, but I'm prepared." She released a Pokémon from a ball. A huge serpent Pokémon formed in the water.

"What is that thing? That's the biggest Pokémon I've seen!" Jordan raised an eyebrow.

"This is my Milotic. And there are many Pokémon that are much bigger. I have a feeling you'll meet some pretty soon. That must have been a huge explosion to shake the ground all the way back there. Let's go, Milotic can carry the both of us for now." They waded into the water and held on to Milotic, who carried them to the cove. Once there, they stepped up onto the beach, and Jordan recalled her Milotic.

"Are you ready to go in? I don't know what to expect, this place should be abandoned." She warned him.

"I'm always ready." He headed in, and Jordan followed.

"I can't see a thing." Blake was quick to observe.

"You're quick to observe." Jordan released her Kirlia. "Use Flash." The cave instantly lit up, blinding Blake, who wasn't prepared for the flash of light.

"You could have warned me."

"I thought it was obvious." The flash scared some Pokémon away, but more importantly, allowed them to head deeper into the cave. Soon, they could hear noise, what sounded like metal on stone. Was someone mining?

"Come on, work harder! These fossils won't unearth themselves!"

"Why don't you grab a pick and help out? It'll go faster!"

"Grunt, don't talk to me like that! I'll have you demoted!"

Team Rocket members were under them. They turned and saw a drop-off.

"We have the element of surprise. There's three of them though, and two of us. Are you ready?" Jordan asked Blake, who nodded.

"Actually, I've got a plan." He pointed a Pokéball over the drop-off and released it.

"What is a Magikarp doing here?" One of the grunts came over to pick up Blake's Magikarp, and at that moment, Blake hopped off, landing on him and knocking him out.

"Now it's two on two." Jordan dropped down beside him.

"Kids? What are you doing here? Wait, I know you!" It was their friend from the boat. "I escaped from the police, and now I get my revenge along with the fossil Pokémon! This is shaping up to be a good day!" The Rocket grabbed a ball off of his belt.

"We'll just beat you again! You had no chance last time and you have no chance now!" Blake yelled back.

"We'll see!" The grunt sent out his Pokémon of choice, a different one than before. Blake scooped up his Magikarp and tossed it in the general direction of the Pokémon.

"Magikarp, use Tackle!" Flop, flop.

"Houndour, Thunder Fang!" The Houndour's teeth crackled with electricity, and it charged at Magikarp, who took the attack with no reaction.

"Magikarp.. Can you do anything..? Return! Drifloon, we'll have to handle this!" Drifloon came out of its Pokéball ready to fight. "Use Shadow Ball!" Drifloon began to charge the ball of energy, but as it struck Houndour, it dissolved into nothing.

"Your ghost attacks don't work here! This time, I have the type advantage!" Jordan and the other Rocket began to fight, with Jordan's Kirlia against a small purple scorpion Pokémon. Blake trusted her, so he focused on his own battle.

"Houndour, Fire Fang!" Its teeth began to heat up as it breathed a small amount of fire, charging at Drifloon and biting it. Drifloon winced, but floated away.

"Uh, use Gust!" The wind did next to nothing to Houndour, only pushing it back a little. Drifloon looked hurt, and couldn't summon enough energy to hurt Houndour. It wasn't looking good.

"Damn.. Return! Magikarp, I guess you get another chance!" Blake switched back to Magikarp.

"Hah, that thing is still as useless as it was before!" Blake had to give him this one. He grimaced. Jordan was stuck in a battle of her own and couldn't help him.

"Houndour, another Thunder Fang!"

"Magikarp, do you even have any attacks?" Blake shouted in a mixture of command and desperation. As soon as the teeth met skin, Magikarp began to Flail for its life, as it had when Blake tried to catch it. The writhing was strong enough to flip Houndour over onto its back, knocking its head on a rock and knocking it out.

"WHHHAAAT? HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?" Another valid point Blake had to concede.

"That was all part of my plan!" Blake bluffed. Jordan had just wrapped up her battle too, and the Rockets went into full retreat, leaving their fallen comrade behind.

"Hmm. Maybe Magikarp's not so useless after all?" Blake mused. It was too soon to comment; Magikarp returned to its flopping around like a fish out of water. The fallen Rocket woke up at this moment, and noticing that his friends were gone as well, ran for his life. Jordan turned to face Blake.

"We should look to see if everything's okay. I don't think this is all that's here. Something had to make the noise we heard."


	7. Chapter 7

The cave seemed to spiral on endlessly. Jordan had been inside before, but didn't know the way through. Still, she had the sense to leave markings so they could find their way back.

"Do you think there will be more Rockets?" Blake asked, "My Drifloon looked pretty hurt, I'm not sure if he can fight again."

"Do you have a potion? It's no substitute for a nice rest, but it'll help a little bit." Blake nodded.

"Yeah, good idea." He called Drifloon out and quickly sprayed it with a potion. It still looked tired, but it might last another fight. Blake was about to thank her for the idea when the ground suddenly shook again.

"Damn. That means we're not done here." Blake said. Jordan nodded.

"It was close though. We should be there soon." In fact, as they turned the next corner, they found a Rocket executive shoveling rocks into a machine.

"Where are those goons? I'm running low on fossils! We still haven't met our quota for today! The boss is going to be furious!" As he threw rocks into one end of the machine, Pokémon tumbled out of the other, onto a conveyer belt where they were dropped into boxes. The Rocket turned to grab more rocks out of the mine cart they were in and noticed Blake and Jordan spying on him.

"What? You aren't Rockets! Dammit! You're not supposed to be here!"He grabbed two rocks and tossed them into the machine, but grabbed them as they began to reform into Pokémon and tossed them at the two. One formed in front of each. Blake's opponent was what looked like a black and blue dinosaur, with spikes on its head. Jordan was up against a shellfish with blades for arms.

"Any advice?" Blake whispered.

"Rampardos. It charges. Don't get hit."

"Got it. Drifloon, let's give it a shot! Give it a Gust attack!" Drifloon inflated, and fired a volley of wind at Rampardos, who took it without even blinking."

"They're rocks, Blake." Jordan called out her Kirlia and prepared to fight. The Rocket laughed.

"These Pokémon are much more powerful than yours! There's no way you can hope to beat them!" The eyes of the two fossil Pokémon narrowed as they turned to face the Rocket. His eyes widened.

"Oh no! I forgot to use the control device.. Oh no. That's no good." He grabbed a Pokéball of his own and released the occupant. A metal and stone behemoth came out and stomped, shaking the ground and causing rubble to fall from the walls.

"Aggron. It's dangerous in every way. Your ghost attacks aren't going to work, and neither will flying. Kirlia's not going to be able to handle this." Jordan recalled her Pokémon, and switched to Milotic. The fossil Pokémon faced the two trainers and then the Rocket.

"I think they're going to help us. Can you direct the Rampardos? We're going to need all the help we can get."

"Uh, I'll try. Rampardos, give it a Headbutt!"

"Kabutops, Aqua Jet!"

The two fossils sped into the chest of Aggron, which upset it with no lasting harm.

"Aggron is much tougher than that! You'll have to do a lot better! Earthquake!" Aggron slammed the ground with as much force as he could. Blake and Jordan both fell to the ground, and covered themselves as well as they could. The Pokémon took the shock better, although they were still damaged.

"Drifloon, can you do anything?" Drifloon nodded. The cloud on its head began to crackle with static, and a thunderbolt loosed from it, hitting Aggron and channeling down the horns on its faceplate.

"He's his own lightning rod! You can't beat me, four on one even!" The rocket laughed. "Take Down, Aggron!" Aggron began to lumber towards them, picking up speed.

"Jordan, use a water attack! Just trust me!" Drifloon continued channeling the lightning down Aggron's armor, causing it to glow as it began to heat up. Slowly, the plates began to melt, but Drifloon ran out of juice before too long.

"Milotic, Kabutops, use Hydro Pump!" The water cooled the metal, and with a hiss of steam, the molten plates began to fuse back together, but in a way that restricted Aggron's movements; it couldn't charge them.

"Gah! Doesn't matter! He can still fight! Rock Slide!" Aggron shook the cave once again, causing a slew of rocks to fall on the group. Blake dove to knock Jordan out of the way of a rock headed at her. The fossil Pokémon were strong enough to deal with a few hits, but Drifloon looked very hurt again. Blake was worried, but had an idea of how to use this to their advantage.

"Drifloon, use Pain Split!" A ball of energy came out of both Drifloon and Aggron and merged, before splitting and returning to their bodies. Drifloon looked a lot better, but Aggron was much worse.

"GAAH! No! I won't lose! Use Autotomize!" The molten plates fell off of Aggron, and he began heading towards the group to finish his attack.

"Attack again! Hydro Pump!"

"Thunderbolt!"

The soaked Aggron was much less resistant to the electricity, and the loss of his plates lowered his defenses. Aggron gave a roar of defeat and collapsed, making the ground shake one last time. The Rocket executive echoed the roar and recalled the fallen Pokémon. He grabbed as many fossils as he could hold and took off, deeper into the cave.

"Should we stop him?"

"He'll figure it out. What do we do with the machine?" Blake asked. Jordan bit her lip.

"I don't know. I guess leave it for now.. It's not for us to decide. We can just take a part so they can't keep using it, but it's not completely ruined. I'm more worried about the Pokémon." She looked at Kabutops and Rampardos.

"Can you guys handle things here? Take care of the other Pokémon?" Blake asked. Both nodded. "Great, thanks." He moved over to the machine. "How about we just take the key used to start it?" He turned the machine off and pulled out the key.

"That should do it. Let's go. Good luck, Kabutops, Rampardos! We're only in the city if you need us." Jordan and Blake headed back towards the entrance of the cave. Blake followed behind Jordan, but when he saw the light, ran out into the open.

"I think I just developed claustrophobia." He sighed.

"Hey Blake, I think you made a friend." Jordan laughed. "Check your back." Blake turned a few times before reaching around to feel his back. His hand felt something rocky and solid. He swept it off, and it landed in the sand.

"What is that thing? It looks like a headcrab." Blake made eye contact with it, and the two had a brief staring contest. Blake blinked first.

"Anorith. One of the fossil Pokémon. I think it wants to stay with you." Anorith made a sort of chirping noise, something Blake wasn't expecting from a dead crustacean.

"Uh, okay." Anorith skittered through the sand and crawled back up onto Blake, pinching his ear when it made it up to his shoulder.

"What the hell?"

"He's only playing." Jordan giggled a little.

"He's not very friendly. That hurt. I guess he'll be a good battler.. Come on, and stop pinching me." Another pinch. "Dammit, I said stop!"

Jordan began to laugh at the two.

"You're so quick to make friends. Come on, we haven't had anything to eat yet today and it's almost five. Let's go get food." Anorith chirped in agreement.


	8. Chapter 8

The rest week was spent training and relaxing. The renovations for the lighthouse took longer than expected, and it wasn't available until the weekend. Jordan's phone rang at lunch one day.

"Hello? Oh, hey. Yeah, we'd still like to come if we could. Really? Okay, thanks!" She hung up. "That was Jasmine, the gym leader of Olivine. She said that the lighthouse still had some barriers up, but it should be safe for us to go in. Just don't do anything stupid, okay?"

"You think too little of me."

"I'm not so sure." Blake stuck his tongue out at her and she returned the motion, leaning over and ruffling his hair.

"Let's go."

When they got to the lighthouse, Blake stood in front and looked up. He had never seen a building so tall; it wasn't as if they had no lighthouses on his home island, but they were normally sized. He felt that the light must be able to be seen for miles.

"You can see the light for miles. Want to go to the top to check out the view?" Blake nodded and held the door for her. In the lobby, Blake noticed that the elevator was out of order.

"Aw man, we're going to have to climb?"

"I told you there were renovations going on. You'll make it. I believe in you. It's not like we're in a hurry, we can take our time going up. Now, let's go. You can lead. I don't want you checking me out." Blake's face turned red. He had hoped he'd get used to the teasing, but she seemed to have a joke every time. He hurried on ahead so she wouldn't see his face.

"Come on! You're so slow!" Blake had apparently turned back to shout, but his taunts were interrupted by a thudding noise. "Damn! You didn't say anything about a door.." Jordan caught up, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Shouldn't be a door. It's probably electrical, can you get Drifloon to shock it? That might open it up." Blake nodded and called out his Drifloon, who proceeded to spark and launch a bolt at the door, frying the controls and releasing the door enough to lever the door open.

"I think we broke it. Uh oh. At least they're doing repairs." Jordan said, helping Blake move the door. "Still, that door shouldn't have been up. Jasmine said she'd take them down. Either she forgot, or someone else has been here."

"Do you think it could be Rockets?" Jordan considered this.

"I don't know why they'd be here. There's nothing valuable in the lighthouse. At the top, there's a Pokémon, but they can't do anything except keep the lighthouse from running. Unless that's their plan? Let's get to the top just in case." The two doubled their efforts to make it to the top. No more doors barred their way, but about halfway up, their fears were realized.

"Stop right there! Team Rocket controls this lighthouse!" A grunt stood in their way as they reached one of the floors, and called his Pokémon into the open room: a Magneton.

"Go Anorith!" Blake released the newest addition to his team, who skittered about a little, excited to battle. Blake turned to Jordan and said, "Don't worry, I've got this."

"Thunderbolt!" the Rocket called to his Pokémon. The display of sparks was a little more impressive coming from an electric type. As it was charging, Blake gave his command.

"Mud sport!" Anorith coughed up some mud, covering himself in a electric-resistant shield. The bolt dissipated upon contact with Anorith. "Now use Mud Slap!" Anorith flung some of the mud coating him at Magneton, blinding it temporarily and dulling its electrical powers.

"Magneton, use Lock-On!" Even though it couldn't see, the magnets attached to it allowed it to guarantee a hit. "Tri Attack!" A beam came out of each of the three Magnemites making up the body, one fire, one ice and one lightning. The attack honed in on Anorith and he took the full hit from the fire and ice, but the remaining mud absorbed the lightning. Anorith slid backwards a little, but didn't seem too hurt.

"Rock Slide!" Anorith slapped the ground, and in a show of impressive strength for a such a small Pokémon, knocked a few chunks of rock out of the ceiling. These fell and hit Magneton, who was weak from the mud and fell to the ground. The Rocket called his first Pokémon back and sent the next, a large cactus Pokémon, apparently wearing a hat.

"Cacturne, use Needle Arm!" Cacturne limbered towards Anorith as quickly as he could, and Blake called his own attack, "X-Scissor!" The two met shortly, but Cacturne couldn't take the hit as well as Anorith could, and fell immediately.

"Wha- one hit?" The Rocket seemed surprised, but Blake only flashed a grin.

"It's super effective, pal."The Rocket hurried up the steps, probably to warn his superiors. Blake and Jordan hurried to follow. Reaching the top, they saw a locked room which would randomly flash with what sounded like electricity every few seconds.

"I think that's the lighthouse Pokémon! They've trapped it!" Jordan ran over to unlock the door, but a Rocket executive stepped out from the shadows and grabbed her by the wrist. The grunt hurried over and put Jordan into a hold so the executive's hands would be free.

"You aren't supposed to be here, kids. This is off limits. I could let you go, but I've been told you've been causing some trouble here. I'll just have to put a stop to this. Don't worry too much, your bodies ought to reach the ocean from here. No one will even miss you." The executive snarled at them, and send out his Pokémon.

"Blake, it's a Kingdra! Dragon and water!" Jordan managed to shout before the grunt covered her mouth.

"Drifloon, we're going to do this! Shadow Ball!" "Dragon Pulse!" The two attacks collided in the air and fizzled out.

"Smokescreen!" Kingdra launched a black ball out of its mouth, which exploded into smoke as it hit the ground. Blake closed his eyes and coughed as the smoke spread. "Now Rain Dance!" Even though they were indoors, it began to rain. The executive was controlling the fight, and Blake couldn't give up yet. Drifloon had an idea, and began to intake as much of the smoke as he could, using his Stockpile attack. Blake grinned, glad his Pokémon was able to think of strategies itself. It had actually helped him form his own plan.

"Use the smoke to power up your Shadow Ball!" "Dragon Pulse again!" The executive was expecting a stalemate, but the energy from the artificial smoke was enough to give Drifloon the edge; the Shadow Ball exploded into Kingdra, although the damage seemed slight. Blake began to sidestep, causing the Rocket exec to turn with him. Eventually they were parallel to the door holding the lighthouse Pokémon.

"We can do this, Drifloon! Keep going!" Drifloon launched another Shadow Ball, using the last of the smoke.

"We're going to have to use stronger attacks! Hyper Beam!" Kingdra fired the beam directly at the Shadow Ball, destroying it and continuing to hit Drifloon. Blake flinched as Drifloon was launched into a wall. That was a normal type attack, and it shouldn't have hurt Drifloon, but it must have had so much raw power that Drifloon couldn't phase through it. Blake ground his teeth; this would be a very trying match. He shuffled more to the side, but the grunt stepped closer, thinking Blake was about to run.

"Thunderbolt!" The all too familiar static returned, but Drifloon was feeling weak and couldn't do much more than startle Kingdra, who was still recharging from the Hyper Beam.

"Face it, Blake. You can't beat me. You've got some potential, but I'm much too strong for you." The exec laughed heartily, and Blake narrowed his eyes.

"I _WILL_ beat you. And I think I know how! Do it now!" Blake yelled. All eyes widened. Who was he talking to? There was a click, and the door to the room-inside-the-room opened. A very angry Ampharos stood in the doorway.

"WHAT? HOW!" The executive roared, glancing over at the controls directly behind the grunt. A small crustacean skittered out across the wall, waving at the raging rockets.

"That's the whole reason I moved." Blake smirked. "Your Kingdra's soaking wet from the rain. Ampharos, could you help me out? How 'bout a Thunder attack?" The air in the lighthouse crackled with electricity, shocking Blake a few times as the largest bolt of lightning Blake had seen struck down both trainer and Pokémon. The exec fell to his knees, charred and smoking, but alive. He screamed in defeat as he saw his Kingdra lying on the ground, out cold.

"NO! Grunt! We're done here! We don't need this damn place anyway! We were only here to capture you two. That'll have to wait." The exec recalled his Pokemon and ran with the grunt, who had dropped Jordan, down the stairs. Blake ran over to her.

"Hey, are you okay?" Before responding, Blake was wrapped in a hug.

"That was great! How did you know that Amphy would help you though?" Jordan asked.

"I had no idea. I didn't even know what was back there. I figured it was a pretty strong Pokémon to be making so much light, and I figured it'd be pissed. Thanks for the help, Ampharos." The lighthouse Pokémon made a noise of compliance.

"I feel bad though.. I almost let you down. If that hadn't worked.." He trailed off. Both knew what could have happened. Jordan hugged him tighter.

"Don't worry about it. I'm proud of you. Let's go home. We've had plenty of excitement for today. We can cook something at home and watch a movie or something." Blake nodded, although he still looked very dejected, and glanced down at his feet.

"Yeah.."


	9. Chapter 9

Like she had offered, Jordan cooked dinner. Blake offered his help at first, but he ended up setting off the smoke alarm within the first five minutes, and she let him know she could handle it. Blake went and sat on the couch, thinking about the battle from before.

"I've been a trainer for a week. I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I could have gotten the both of us killed. It was a risky plan, and if it hadn't paid off.." He shook his head. It would do no good to worry about the past. He needed to get stronger and focus on the future. Maybe he'd wake up extra early and train with his Pokémon.

"Hey, dinner's ready." Jordan called in from the kitchen. It was nothing fancy, but both were hungry from before and they demolished the small meal quickly.

"So, how about that movie?" Jordan asked. Blake shrugged.

"You pick. Nothing too terribly girly, okay?" She laughed, and Blake sighed. He had a sinking feeling that it would be a very girly movie.

And it was. An older movie, a romantic flick about two kids who were forbidden to play together as kids due to a family rivalry, ending up as trainers facing each other in the finals of a big tournament. Blake didn't follow much, although he did have to stop himself from making jokes throughout the movie, such as calling Anorith out to ask if he knew the actors in the film. Eventually though, Jordan cuddled up to him, sighing into his chest as she did.

"It's sooo cute, isn't it? I love this movie." She grabbed his arm and put it around herself, looking up into his eyes as she did. Blake only blinked. She smiled at his awkwardness, and he relaxed a little bit, trying to feign interest in the movie, as if he had no idea what she was doing. Before too long, they had turned off the lights and were more focused on not falling asleep than following the movie. When the movie ended, both of them were very tired and ready to head to sleep. Jordan sat up and looked away from Blake.

"Hey. We need to talk." Blake tensed up a little bit. "Don't worry, it's nothing terrible. Well, not anymore. I'd just like to.. to tell you something." She hesitated for a moment, before turning back to face him. "I told you that I live alone. I think you caught that I was hiding something from you. I feel like you deserve to know." She took a deep breath.

"When I was younger, I lived with my parents, and we were happy. We had a normal family. My parents were both trainers, very popular around the town. When I was eight.. They were killed. It was Team Rocket. A bombing at a Pokémon Center. I mean, it was never proven that it was Team Rocket, but I just know it was.. I think they were targeting my parents in particular. I wasn't there." Jordan was tearing up a little bit now, and Blake made to comfort her, but she put her hands on his shoulders, holding him back.

"Let me finish. I lived with some distant family for a while, but I couldn't stay away. My whole life was in this city, and I had to come back. When I was fourteen, I moved back and I've lived by myself all this time. I know it's wrong for me to think so, but I've felt alone since then." She was completely in tears by this point. She took another breath to steady herself. "Thank you. You're really my only friend right now. I know I've only known you for a week, but it means a lot to me. Please.. please stay with me. For a little while longer." She allowed Blake to pull her closer and cried into his chest.

"Jordan.. I'm so, so sorry. I really am. I don't know what to say. You're not alone. I'm here right now, and I won't leave unless you want me to." She nodded without words, her face still buried. They stayed that way for a little while, completely silent. Blake noticed that she had fallen asleep in his arms. He smiled and kissed her forehead, causing a faint smile to appear on her face. He hoped she would sleep well. He pulled a blanket up over them, and went to sleep himself.

The first thing Blake noticed when he woke was the weight on his body; Jordan still lay in his arms. The second was the loud knocking at the door.

"Jordan, wake up! We need some help!" The banging continued. Blake looked down at the girl laying in his arms, and her eyes fluttered open slowly. The door opened at the same time, not so slowly. It slammed against the wall.

"Oh, uh, sorry. I think I broke it." A boy stood at the door, probably a few years older than either Blake or Jordan. His blond hair was held back by a purple headband, and he wore a purple scarf, even in the mild weather. He was wearing mostly black, with cargo pants. "And, uh, sorry to intrude." He motioned at the two on the couch.

"It's not what it looks like, Morty. Don't worry. Just fell asleep watching a movie." Jordan pointed to the television, paused at the end credits. Morty nodded. "What's the big deal?"

"Elm told me to come get you two. It's still pretty early out, but we have some trouble. Some rockets have broken into the tower back in Ecruteak. We're pretty sure they're trying to let the dogs out." Blake held his tongue, avoiding the joke he wanted to make. He had no idea what that meant, but it sounded serious; Jordan's expression told as much. She scrambled up and grabbed her belongings, throwing some stuff to Blake.

"Blake, we have to go! I'll explain on the way!" Blake nodded and followed her out the door.

Morty had driven from Ecruteak in the middle of the night; it was about six in the morning. Blake yawned, still tired. Jordan began her explanation.

"Morty is the gym leader from Ecruteak. There's no member from our little organization there, at least not anymore, so he's helping us out for the time being. The tower he's talking about is the Burned Tower. Legend has it that there are three Legendary Pokémon sleeping there: Entei, Raikou and Suicune. Together, they are known as the Legendary Dogs. I can go ahead and confirm the legend for you. They're there. If Rocket manages to capture them, we're in terrible luck. We need to stop them." It was a pretty short drive to Ecruteak, and Jordan continued explaining for the rest of the drive. Blake wasn't sure at first, but Jordan seemed convinced that the legends were true. He figured that he'd learn the truth soon, so he let it go.

"Morty! Slow down! You're going to kill us! I know you like ghosts, but I don't want to be one!" Jordan leaned forward, sticking her head into his face. Blake pulled her back.

"That's not going to help him drive."

"Sorry, we're almost there, and we're in a hurry. The Rockets are probably already there." They pulled into Ecruteak city, and Morty skidded to a stop, barely keeping the car from flipping as it slid on the wet ground.

"Sorry! Follow me!" He was out the door in seconds, and Blake and Jordan had no choice but to follow. Blake looked at the tower they would be investigating, the so called Burned Tower. Looking it over, he decided there was a good reason for the name. The structure was still standing, but it looked as if it could collapse at any moment, and Blake wasn't terribly excited to be heading in. Still, he put on his brave face and followed Morty and Jordan in.

The tower was very open on the inside, with little furniture of any sort around the ground floor, probably because of the fire. Burnt tapestries lined the walls, and Blake hazarded a guess that no one really cared for the building anymore. There was a small amount of rubble on the floor, but it was manageable. Morty motioned them over to a corner of the room, a staircase leading downwards that was roped off to the general public, as if anyone would sneak in.

"The basement is the best place to start." Morty said, and Blake took him for his word. They climbed over the roping in a hurry and dashed down the stairs, careful not to break their only connection to the world above. As they reached the basement, they heard voices, their signal that someone else was here before them. Blake's stomach lurched; he was hoping to make it through the day without another battle.

"We need to activate these at the same time." The voice was distinctly familiar, and could be heard even down the hallway. Blake was pretty sure it was the Rocket executive from the lighthouse, and his stomach dropped another level. A battle would be inevitable and he didn't know how to win this one.

"Alright, on three then." The voice was the exec from the cave. This was getting worse and worse. Still, they only heard two people, and there were three in their group.

"Wait, starting at zero or at one?" A third voice. Blake hung his head dejectedly. This wasn't going to be good.

"Why would you start at zero?" As the three Rockets began to argue, Morty led the charge down the hall and into the central room. Stepping into the room, Blake noticed a gap in the ceiling, and could see the ground floor. The Rockets were too busy arguing to notice the trainers. Blake took a moment to see what they meant to activate: three statues, one in the shape of a droplet of water, one a small flame, and one a bolt of lightning. He vaguely remembered something about the three elements from the legend, but decided it wasn't important for now.

"Stop." Morty made their presence known. The three executives turned, and Blake recognized his friends from before as they did the same.

"Well, hello again," said the man from the lighthouse, "I was hoping we'd meet here."

"Gives us a chance to reacquaint ourselves." The man from the cave grinned at Blake and Jordan. The third one shook his head.

"Nope, don't know them." The other two turned and glared at him.

"This is why you're the lowest rank, fool." The lighthouse exec turned back and smiled. "I didn't introduce myself last time. I am Executive Alpha of Team Rocket. This is Beta and Gamma." Beta, the one from the cave grinned at them again. Gamma shook his head.

"I don't think I've seen them," he said nonchalantly. Beta smacked the back of his head.

"Shut up! Just destroy them!" The three executives called out their Pokémon, and the three trainers picked their own.


	10. Chapter 10

"Destroy them!" Alpha called, and the executives released their Pokémon. Alpha's Kingdra floated nearby, along with two Pokémon Blake hadn't seen. One he assumed to be a later form of Houndour that he had seen before, due to the similar appearance. Another was a blue dog with yellow fur around the head and paws, sparking with electricity. Morty stood across from Alpha, and Blake was somewhat relieved. He wasn't looking forward to fighting him again. Jordan would fight Beta and the Houndour evolution, and he would be against Gamma and the electrical dog.

"Gengar, use Shadow Ball!" Morty issued the command as he was releasing the Pokéball, and before the flash of light had even disappeared, the familiar ball of energy slammed into Kingdra, knocking it back, which was something Drifloon couldn't manage. Blake felt much better; it appeared that Morty was a very capable trainer in his own right. Jordan sent out her Milotic, which had the type advantage, and began to battle Beta. Blake turned to his partner.

"I have no idea who you are, but that is no excuse to interfere!" Gamma pointed at Blake. "You must pay! Manectric, use Thunderbolt!" A bolt hit the ground where Blake had been standing a moment before.

"Hey! Let me pick a Pokémon first! Anorith, let's go!" Anorith had done well against electric types before, so he was Blake's natural pick. "Mud Sport!" The mud allowed for Anorith to take much more of a beating from electricity than it usually could. The following bolt from Manectric fizzled into a light shock. Anorith chirped happily.

"Rain Dance!" Kingdra made it rain as he had done in the lighthouse. Blake smiled. The rain would help Kingdra out, yes, but Milotic was also a water type, and Anorith seemed to enjoy the rain as well. Anorith sped around much quicker than he typically did, energized by the rain.

"X-Scissor!" Anorith skittered towards Manectric and sliced into him with his claws, earning a yelp.

"Thunder Fang!" Manectric grabbed Anorith in its jaws before Anorith could skitter back to safety, discharging electricity into him and then flinging him into a small pile of rubble. Blake winced; the mud wouldn't help much here. Anorith stood up, still eager to fight. Blake made his next move.

"Rock Blast!" Anorith flung rock after rock at Manectric, taking from the pile of rubble he was in, Manectric took each hit, not terribly injured but very annoyed.

"Give him a Thunder Wave! That'll keep him from crawling around!" The mud covering had been loosened by the impact with the wall, and with it went Anorith's protection. Manectric let loose a field of electricity, enveloping Anorith and causing him to tense up noticeably. Blake clenched his fists. That wasn't good. He didn't have any items to heal the paralysis, and even if he did, Anorith would just be paralyzed again.

"Anorith, are you okay?" Chirp. "Alright, use Crush Claw!" Anorith was much more dangerous up close, and began sliding across the ground to close the distance. The paralysis slowed him greatly, enough for Manectric to intercept with an Iron Tail attack, knocking Anorith directly into Blake. The both of them collapsed. Blake held on to Anorith as they hit the ground, protecting his Pokémon.

"We're not done yet, are we?" Anorith chirped, and hopped off of Blake, beginning to dash at Manectric once more. Blake tensed up, expecting another retaliation, but what happened next surprised everyone in the room. Anorith began to glow bright enough to pause the other battles going on in the room. As he leaped at Manectric, his form changed quickly. He still looked the same, but was much larger and bipedal now. Blake gasped at the unexpected event. Jordan explained.

"Evolution. Anorith turned into Armaldo. I'd love to chat, but I'm a little busy." Blake was still happy. Armaldo looked much stronger, and the counterattack Manectric had planned on making was deflected. Armaldo continued with his momentum, and spun quickly, slamming into Manectric with his own stony tail. Manectric hit the wall as Anorith had done, but got up quickly and snarled. Gamma was very upset as well.

"That's still not enough! Use Volt Switch!" Manectric put on an impressive display of speed, blurring as it charged into Anorith, turning after the collision. In its place in the battle though, was Beta's Houndoom. Blake panicked for a moment before realizing what had happened; the two had switched. Gamma was now fighting Jordan, and had the advantage. He turned to his new opponent.

"Doesn't matter! I've got the advantage now! Anor- uh, Armaldo, use Rock Slide!" Armaldo chirped, although in a much deeper tone, and slammed his tail on the ground, causing the floor to shake and rocks to fall on Houndoom. Blake wasn't expecting an amazing result, but Houndoom looked shaken. Beta didn't have a favorable matchup at first, so Houndoom was running low on steam.

"Fire Fang!" Beta called, and Houndoom pushed itself to charge at Armaldo.

"Armaldo, let's finish! Aqua Tail!" Armaldo lumbered towards Houndoom at the same time, and the two collided: Anorith's tail nailing Houndoom in the jaw. Houndoom hit the ground hard, bouncing a little. Beta was out of the fight. Blake cheered inwardly, but made no noise, wanting to appear confident. He glanced over to see how Morty and Jordan were doing, noticing that Milotic was struggling against Manectric. He felt responsible for it, since Manectric wasn't as weakened going into the fight as Houndoom was, but he didn't want to aid her; just because the Rockets lacked morals didn't mean he had to. Not only that, but he believed in her.

"Thunder Wave!" Gamma called. The field of static came over Milotic the same way it had on Armaldo, but Jordan didn't look worried.

"Safeguard!" Milotic began to sparkle and the field around her dissipated instantly. "Now use Recover!" The small scratches along Milotic's body began to heal, and Milotic looked ready to continue fighting.

"Curses! I'll defeat you anyway!" Gamma shouted, and issued another command. "Thunder with everything you have!" Blake's eyes widened; he had seen the destructive power firsthand. The same static from the lighthouse filled the room, and Blake jumped a little as he was shocked. The huge bolt went straight at Milotic, who didn't move. At the very last second, Jordan gave her command, merely uttering the two words.

"Mirror Coat." The bolt was reflected at such an angle that zapped both Pokémon and trainer. In a scene reminiscent of the lighthouse battle, both trainer and Pokémon fell to the ground, charred and stunned. Blake jogged over to Jordan and gave her a congratulatory hug.

"Nice job."

"You too." She smiled at him, and he remembered the talk they had had the night before. For feeling weak and alone, Jordan was one of the strongest and most confident people he had ever met. Was it an act? He cleared his mind. There would be time to worry later. They turned to watch Morty. The battle on the far side of the room had evolved into almost a mental will of battles, with projectile after projectile being launched. No commands were being given anymore. Morty's Gengar and Alpha's Kingdra were floating around the room, circling each other and several singed patches of ground, where an attack had presumably gone wrong.

"Oh, are you two finished?" Morty glanced over. "I'll finish up then. Hypnosis." Gengar's eyes glowed, and Kingdra slowed gradually, eventually becoming still. "Now Dream Eater." Kingdra tensed up as Gengar invaded its mind. Kingdra floated lower and lower, eventually collapsing on the ground. Blake stood in awe. He made a mental note never to piss Morty off; apparently the absentmindedness hid an amazing store of power.

"What? You were playing with me the entire time?" Alpha was too shocked to even raise his voice. He blinked a few times, before snapping his fingers.

"We're done here. We've been foiled. We'll have to regroup and form another plan. Too bad for you that you can't activate these statues without these stones." Alpha held up one crystal and the other two executives followed suit. They then turned and ran out of the room and fled the building. Morty sighed.

"They didn't notice that I had my Banette steal the real crystals and replace them." A shadowy doll-like Pokémon appeared above Morty's shoulder, holding three crystals. "I had assumed we would need these, but if the rest of the Rockets are like this, we may not need the power of the legendary beasts." He took the crystals from Banette and tossed one to the other two. "Oh well. On three then. One, two, three." They each pressed the crystal into the gap in the elemental stones, and were knocked back by a pulse of energy. A bright light filled the room and blinded them. The three statues had seemed conspicuous, but as the light died down, it appeared that they weren't statues at all; they were the legendary beasts themselves.

Blake stood openmouthed. The aura of power they gave off was impressive. He knew that no matter how he tried, he couldn't even think of challenging one of these beasts. The three dogs glanced at the trainers, then each other, and in a split second, launched themselves through the gap in the roof and out of the building. The trainers were silent for a moment. Morty broke the silence.

"Wow." The others could do nothing but nod.

"Did you two get the impression that they were judging us?" Blake asked, and earned another round of nods.

"I have a feeling that they're looking for someone, but I don't think we're it. I wonder.." Jordan trailed off. Morty seemed to know what she was thinking, but Blake had no idea.

"We'll worry about them later. I think we've earned a break." Morty motioned for the other two to follow him back up the stairs and outside.


	11. Chapter 11

The sun had only been up for a little while. Stepping outside into the cool air was relaxing. Blake noticed that he was sweating a little bit, probably from the battle, and the slight breeze felt nice. He looked around to take in the new environment: no people to be seen, giving Ecruteak the appearance of a ghost town.

"I can take you two back if you want." Morty offered.

"We'll stay for a bit, if you don't mind. We can probably just catch a bus or something back later." Jordan said. Morty only shrugged.

"Suit yourself. I have to head over to the gym. Nice to meet you, Blake." He offered his hand, and Blake took it.

"You'll have to teach me some moves. Your battle was very impressive." Morty gave a slight smile.

"I'm a ghost trainer. I can feel things that most people can't, and I believe that you've got the same ability and power as I do, but you need training. I'd be glad to teach you what I know." Morty made his goodbyes and headed off towards his gym. Blake turned to Jordan, wanting to ask a few questions.

"You know how you said there's no organization member from Ecruteak? What did you mean? Did there used to be one?" Jordan considered for a moment.

"Well, Ecruteak is well known as a spiritual place. There are many ghost trainers and spirit mediums like our friend Morty. There used to be a ghost trainer in our little team, but he's been gone for a while. We're not a hundred percent sure where he went, but Professor Elm has a bad feeling that he joined up with the Rockets." Jordan frowned, looking very disappointed, but shrugged it off after a moment. "Can you hang on for a second with the questions? I need to make a phone call. I'm gonna talk to Professor Elm. You can call your professor if you want to update him." Jordan pulled out her phone and turned away, so Blake decided to make his own call.

"Hello, this is Professor Aspen."

"You have a name? I've always just kind of called you Professor, or Crazy Old Man."

"Blake, that's not why you called. How did things go at the tower?"

"Wait, you know?" Blake was confused.

"Professor Elm already called me. I already know all about your antics in Olivine, and I assume you're finished at the tower or you wouldn't be talking to me." The professor sounded as if he were speaking patiently to a small child.

"Uh, yeah. We won. Have you heard the story about the Three Legendary Beasts? Because I think we just found them."

"Of course I've heard it, everyone has. And I know that it's true. That's why Team Rocket was there. They think that they can control the Legendary Pokémon and use their power to control all of Johto. From there, the world, I suppose. What's worse is that they're working with the other teams from every region." Blake was shocked for a moment before he realized that he had gathered as much himself.

"Can they do it? Control the Legends I mean," he asked. There was a pause, and Blake figured that the professor was making a physical gesture, although it meant nothing over the phone.

"I doubt it." That was good news. "There is another legend, about trainers that can control them, but none of them are Rockets. Well, I suppose one might be." The professor sounded deep in thought.

"Wait, you know who they are?" This was something Blake had not heard about, and he was genuinely curious.

"It's you. Well, not you in particular, but the trainers we have selected to be a member of this organization. Speaking of this organization, we really should come up with a name. We'll think of something. Now, before I distract myself, the reason you were picked for this organization is your potential. You have a store of great power. Here, I'll show you. Do you have any jewelry?" Blake raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, yeah. I have a necklace, my dad left it for me. It's a black crystal of some sort. I've had it for years." Blake fingered the necklace through his shirt as he spoke. The professor must have known about it already, because he continued immediately after.

"I know. It's a special crystal. It's a one of a kind stone that deepens your power over the dark type of Pokémon. Now, you know you're not locked into training only Dark Pokémon, but any you choose to train will always be stronger than the same Pokémon owned by a different trainer. Each of the trainers in this organization has a similar crystal. Look at Jordan's ring." Blake glanced over at her ring, something he had seen before but never given any thought. It was ordinary enough, but it held a transparent crystal, a light shade of pink.

"It's the Mind Crystal. Psychic type," the professor said. Blake was silent. He had been going through some weird things, but this was definitely the weirdest thing yet. It almost felt like cheating, in a way.

"So why recruit us? I guess I can accept that we have that power, if that's what it is, but why do you need us in particular?" Blake was having trouble grasping all of this.

"Well, there could come a time that WE need to control these Legendary Pokémon. In fact, that time is now. If we don't do it, the Rockets and Magmas and everyone else will soon figure out a way, and that would be terrible. Very terrible. We're just being proactive. You're spending all of this time fighting the Rockets, but with more power, we could bring the fight to them."

"If we do the same thing they want to do, doesn't that make us as bad as them?"

"The Legendary Pokémon might listen to you, but they won't do anything for you that they don't want to do. You won't be able to capture them. You met Entei, Raikou and Suicune. Could you feel the power they gave off? There are stronger Pokémon still. Much better to have them on our side." Blake could see the sense in this.

"So, if I have the Dark Crystal, Jordan has the Mind Crystal, does Morty have a Ghost Crystal?"

"You met Morty? I guess that makes sense. No, Morty doesn't have a crystal. He's very powerful without it, and I wouldn't cross him if I were you. You'll reach his level eventually, and maybe surpass him, but you're still young. The owner of the Spirit Crystal used to work with us, but he disappeared a few months ago, and we have reason to believe he may be working with our enemies." Jordan had said as much, so Blake had an easier time believing some of this.

"If we only have a Dark Crystal and Mind Crystal, how are we supposed to catch the dogs?" he asked the professor.

"We've asked the owners of the Flame, Water and Bolt crystals to come to Johto immediately. It will take some time for them to get there, but it shouldn't be a day or two at most. You and Jordan will help find the dogs and earn their trusts." Blake nodded, then realized the uselessness of the gesture.

"Okay. I'm still not too sure what's going on, but I guess I can do that much. Thanks, professor."

"Let me know if there's anything I can do for you." Blake assured him that he would and hung up. Jordan had finished and was waiting on him.

"I have good news. Isaac says that the weather around Mahogany Town has gotten a lot colder and there's a strange mist about. I told him about the dogs and we think that's where Suicune headed. When our water trainer gets here, we'll head out there."

"Do you know the water trainer?" Jordan shook her head.

"I only know the trainers from Johto, and you."

"Makes sense. What do we do now then?"Blake asked.

"We can stay in Ecruteak for a while, or we can go back to Olivine, or we can go somewhere else. There's a park outside of town. We could just go for a walk for a little bit." She looked at Blake, indicating that it was his decision.

"Let's walk." He offered his hand. Jordan looked up at him and smiled, taking it as they headed down the road.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey!" Blake wiped the ice cream off of his nose. Jordan giggled and wiped her hands on his cheek. He shrugged her off and wiped the ice cream off.

"I bought those so you could eat it, not give me a makeover," he reprimanded her, and she pouted.

"It melted."

"Eat quicker." The two had been sitting on a bench in the park for a while, relaxing as people passed them by. It was a fairly popular place, and it had taken some time to find an empty bench. Blake went to get the ice creams from a nearby street vendor, but it didn't seem that Jordan was very interested in eating. Blake gave her an exasperated sigh.

"You're lame." Her only response was to hit him on the shoulder. She then stood up quickly.

"Let's go." She grabbed Blake by the hand and pulled him up, causing him to drop his half-eaten ice cream.

"I wasn't fini- oh well." He allowed himself to be dragged along for a moment, apologizing to the people he narrowly avoided colliding with. He pulled his arm back, and Jordan stopped walking.

"Calm down. What's gotten into you?" he said. She frowned and blinked at him.

"Nothing. I just don't want to sit still right now. Let's keep walking." Blake shook his head slowly and began to walk with her.

"This is a nice park." He tried to make small talk.

"Yeah. They have a bug catching contest every once in a while, but it's not running today. I don't mind, I'm not crazy about bugs anyway."

"Me either. Hey, look." Blake pointed over to a break in the fence surrounding the park, keeping visitors from wandering too far into the forest surrounding the area. Jordan climbed over immediately.

"Want to explore?" she asked. Blake looked back at the park. It didn't sound like a great idea, but it wasn't like they couldn't handle themselves. He hesitantly followed. There was a dirt path that they followed for a bit, but it cut off without warning. Blake was ready to turn back.

"We should probably go now. We're going to get lost." he said.

"Just a little longer." Jordan walked on, leaving Blake to follow halfheartedly.

"I don't think this is a good idea.." Jordan stopped a few moments later, true to her word. She nodded, indicating a small wooden shrine, overgrown with vines, sitting in a small clearing, with trees to all sides.

"What is it?"

"A shrine for the forest Pokémon. There's one in every forest in Johto. I knew I'd find it eventually." Jordan said.

"Forest Pokémon? Is that another legend?" Blake asked. Jordan nodded.

"It's called Celebi. It's said to have power over time. It's the guardian of forests as well, so the people build shrines to it. There aren't any forests around Olivine, so I've never seen one, but I've heard of them. The largest one is in Ilex forest, near Azalea Town. I'm worried that the Rockets will go after it, but then again, I don't think they'll have a chance at catching it. It only shows itself to those with good intentions. I just wanted to see if there was a shrine here. I'm ready to head back if you are." They turned and realized that they had no idea which way they came from.

"Uh oh." Blake sighed. "I told you we'd get lost."

"Told you so isn't going to help here, Blake. See if Drifloon can fly up and give us some directions."

"Good idea." Blake called out Drifloon, who floated up into the sky and out of sight for a moment. When it reappeared, it's disappointment was evident.

"I guess we're too far in.. I think we came from this direction." Blake said.

"I think it was this way." Jordan disagreed. Blake held up a hand to his face.

"Alright. We'll go your way."

"What if your way is the right way?"

"We won't know until we go, so just pick."

"Don't shout at me, Blake."

"I'm not shouting, you're just being ridiculous."

"Fine." With that, Jordan stomped away from Blake, leaving him standing in the clearing alone.

"Jordan! Don't do this!" His words fell on deaf ears, and as she disappeared from sight he leaned against a tree, wondering what had just happened. Was it something he had said or was she just in a bad mood? He sighed and started heading after her.

"Jordan!" Either she couldn't hear him or she was ignoring him. He was no tracker, and he had never been big on camping, but he followed the path he assumed she would take as well as he could, looking for broken branches or footprints. He didn't have much to go on other than the direction she had started on in the first place.

"I hope she's doing alright.." Hearing his own voice amongst the sounds of the forest made him realize how dangerous this situation was. He grabbed a Pokéball off his belt and released his Armaldo.

"We're lost. Keep an eye out for any clues as to where Jordan went, okay?" Armaldo nodded and walked at Blake's side. Blake felt safer, but he still didn't know where to go. He walked in a straight line for what seemed like ages, although he knew it couldn't have been more than a mile or two. Still, it was starting to get late, and the sun was beginning to set. He began wondering if Jordan had made it out yet when he heard a noise, a loud roar, sounding very close. He froze on the spot, and Armaldo stopped as well, running one claw over another as if sharpening them, preparing for battle. Both turned as they heard the sound of cracking branches and falling foliage coming from their right; a large Pokémon was headed their way. Armaldo moved in between Blake and the approaching Pokémon, who lumbered into the limited space they were occupying. It was a large brown bear, standing taller than Blake, with a gold ring on its stomach.

"Use Slash!" Armaldo lunged at the bear, claws outstretched, cutting into its stomach. The bear roared in pain and slammed Armaldo aside as if he were made of paper. Blake's eyes widened. This Pokémon was powerful; Armaldo practically lived for battling and it was hard to believe something could overpower it so easily. Armaldo climbed to his feet and slammed into the attacking Pokémon, knocking both to the ground. Armaldo began scratching at the bear, but was quickly thrown off into one of the surrounding trees. Blake was again amazed. There's no reason a bear would be this enraged- except -Blake turned to see a small cub with a crescent moon on its forehead playing in a young tree a few feet behind him.

"Wait a minute! We're not trying to attack your cub! We're just lost and trying to get out of the forest!" The bear looked at him and let out a low growl. Blake held up his hands.

"Please, just let us go. I'm sorry for attacking you but we really don't want to fight." The bear came closer to Blake, and he closed his eyes. He felt the warm breath against his face for a second, then two, but then it was gone; the bear had gone past him.

"Thank you.. And sorry again." The mother bear went and scooped the cub up by its neck, carrying it off into the forest. Armaldo was still struggling to get up, and Blake ran over to go help him.

"Sorry about that. Just relax for a bit, I'll be fine for now." Blake recalled his Pokémon. He took a deep breath to calm his nerves, and began walking again. After about five minutes he noticed a bag on the ground at a fork in the 'road'. Jordan's bag.

"Oh my god." Blake grabbed it and followed the path it was located on, running at full speed. He blocked any terrible ideas of what might have happened as well as he could, but he was still panicking. She had only had a five minute head start at most, she couldn't be far. Racing along the path, if it could be called that, Blake turned side to side, hoping to get a glance of her. Not watching where was going, he slid in a patch of mud and hit the ground.

"Dammit! I don't have time! Wait." It hadn't rained for a while. Why was the ground wet? He stood back up, and looked at the mud. There was a small trail of water, and a bottle of water on the ground. It had to be from Jordan, so he took off, ducking past trees and jumping over shrubberies. It was near dark, and the trees didn't let much light in to begin with, but Blake continued as quickly as he could. Suddenly, he was at a dead end: the bottom of a cliff.

"Dammit!" Blake was at a loss of what to do. He kicked a small rock, sending it off into the distance.

"Blake? Is that you?" A voice came from the edge of the clearing.

"Jordan! Where are you?" Blake yelled in the direction of the voice. He heard the rustling of leaves as Jordan poked her head out of a tree.

"I was chased by an Ursaring. I've been hiding in here for a while. Help me down."

"That depends, are you still mad at me?" Blake stood at the bottom of the tree, and the reply was a shoe to the head. "Alright, alright." She lowered herself down the tree, and when she was low enough, Blake assisted her. When she was safely on the ground, Blake began his apology.

"I'm sorry about before. I didn't mean to upset you." She held up a hand to his mouth.

"No, I overreacted. I'm sorry." She embraced him, and he wrapped his arms around her. "It's just that I wasn't sure that this was a good idea, and you weren't making things easier."

"What was a good idea?" Blake asked.

"All of this. I don't know if you've noticed, but we've gotten pretty close, and I don't know whether it was a good idea or not. This is our job, I mean. What if it gets in the way?" She looked up at him, and he gave her a reassuring smile.

"So what if it does? We've been doing great so far. You've taught me everything I know, and we're not having problems. I had doubts before, but I'll overcome anything that stands in between us." He held her tighter.

"That was cheesy." She rested her head on his shoulder. "But thanks."

"Now, where do we go from here? We're still stuck out here." Blake said. Jordan let go of him.

"Wait. Do you hear that?" Blake listened for a moment, and realized what she was talking about: the same roars as before.

"I think we have an even bigger problem than before.." Blake said as two Ursaring stepped into the clearing.


	13. Chapter 13

"Can you fight?" Blake whispered. "Armaldo took a beating before and I'm not sure he can handle another fight." Jordan shook her head.

"My Kirlia can't hold one of those off. And Milotic can't fight in a forest." Blake nodded and grabbed a stick from the ground, adopting a defensive stance.

"Run then. I'll hold them off."

"Blake.. You won't last two seconds. It's cute and all, but that's not going to help." The bears moved closer. One bear, lumbered over to Blake on all fours and snorted in his face, blowing a breath of warm, foul smelling air. Blake gagged a little, and the bear stood, revealing some slowly healing scratches on its stomach.

"Wait, you're the bear from before. I thought we were done.. I already apologized for attacking you.." Blake looked at the Pokémon, who seemed to motion for the two trainers to follow. Blake looked at Jordan and both gave a sigh of relief.

"I think they want our help." The other Ursaring nodded, and then began to lead the way. Jordan shrugged at Blake and began to follow the bears, and Blake followed after her. They followed the bears in silence for a few minutes and reached what looked like a campsite. A truck was parked at one end with a tent on the other, and a fire in the middle. The Ursaring that had attacked Blake let out a growl and pointed at the truck. Blake could hardly make out a cage in the bed of the truck.

"Is that it? The cage?" He realized what was going on. "Wait, your cub isn't here. Did they capture your cub?" A nod.

"Poachers." Jordan spat the word. "Almost as bad as Rockets. I'd guess they have guns, which is why the Ursaring can't just charge in and rescue their cub." Another nod.

"Don't worry. We'll get your cub back." Blake promised, and pulled a Pokéball off of his belt. "Drifloon, see if you can sneak in and lift the cage." Drifloon appeared in a flash of light, and floated over to the cage, wrapping his arms around it and lifting, hardly able to drag it along. Blake grimaced as the metal of the cage clanked against the bed of the truck, but after a few seconds, Drifloon had made it back over to the group. It set the cage on the ground, and then flopped over; apparently it was a pretty heavy cage, especially with the Pokémon inside. Drifloon had managed to lift Isaac for a few seconds before the trip to Olivine, and the cage apparently weighed more than he did.

"Now, how do we get this open?" Blake turned to see if Jordan had anything that could be used to break the lock, but she was gone. He spun, looking for her and noticed her sneaking up to the truck herself. She knelt on one side, moved to the side, then around to the back before sneaking back.

"Slashed the tires. They deserve a lot worse than that, but I can't think of anything legal to do right now."

"I don't think slashing tires is legal." She shrugged. Oh well. "How do we get the lock open?" Blake asked.

"Can you pick a lock?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"Never had a reason to learn. Maybe Armaldo can help. We should probably get a little distance first." The male Ursaring lifted the cage and walked away. When he had judged a sizeable distance, he set it down and looked at Blake. Blake nodded and sent out Armaldo, who saw the bears and adopted a fighting stance.

"Easy, we're all friends now. Can you break this cage?" Blake asked, and Armaldo chirped. He lifted one claw and brought it down on the top of the cage, denting the metal. He tried again and again, making no headway.

"One more try," Blake said, and Armaldo hit it again, knocking one of the bars loose. The mother Ursaring pushed Armaldo aside, and he chirped angrily. She grabbed the loose bar and began to pull the top of the cage off, making enough room for the smaller Pokémon to climb out, immediately running to its family. Jordan smiled.

"Nice job." The parents growled their thanks, and the family headed deeper into the woods. "Stay safe!" Jordan called after them. She pulled her phone out of her pocket to check the time.

"It's almost ten.. We might be here overnight. I don't suppose you have any camping supplies on you?" she asked. Blake shook his head before realizing he never actually packed his bag.

"Actually, I have no idea. It's worth a check." He set his bag down and looked through it, finding a small tarp at the bottom. "We might be able to use this as a shelter I guess?"

"Are you asking or telling me?" she asked.

"We need something to hang it on. I've never been big on camping." He frowned.

"I've got a rope. Always carry a rope. My personal motto, you know?" Blake gave her a strange look, but she only shrugged. "It's useful. Can you go get firewood? I've got some matches, we can get a fire going." Blake nodded and walked off with Armaldo. Jordan found her rope and tied it to two trees, throwing the tarp over and staking it to the ground with some sticks. It wouldn't be anything amazing, but it would be better than nothing, especially if it rained. Blake was only gone a few minutes, and came back with an arm full of wood.

"I'm no good building fires. Start small is all I know. Plus, we don't wanna burn the forest down." He began setting up the smaller sticks to use as fuel, and when he was finished, added the heavier stuff. Jordan came and lit it, and it took a little time to catch, but it eventually began to burn.

"No food though." Blake said. "And we didn't even get a chance to eat breakfast. I think the only thing we've had today was ice cream, and you didn't even eat most of yours." Jordan nodded, looking regretful.

"I think we'll make it. We need to get out tomorrow though." she said, stepping over towards the makeshift tent. "We could have stolen supplies from the poachers."

"That's stealing though." She knocked Blake on his head.

"That's the idea. Duh. Are you ready to sleep?"

"Not much else to do." Blake stepped over and made a show of holding an imaginary door open for her. "Ladies first."

"Such a gentleman." She rolled her eyes, and the two sat under the tarp."This is going to be awkward."

"Yeah." Blake lay down on his back, and Jordan did the same. "Although you've already cuddled with me once."

"I fell asleep. That's different," she replied.

"I don't see how."

"Goodnight, Blake." She laid her head on his shoulder.

"Night." He watched her close her eyes and smiled, before making his own attempt to fall asleep.

The morning came, and Blake opened his eyes to see the tops of the trees looming over them, the sun thankfully out now. Wait. Trees? Blake sat up. Where was the tarp? Two men sat against the bed of a truck, smiling at Blake. Jordan stirred beside him, slowly being awoken by his movements.

"Blake? What's wrong?" She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Company."

"Well, hello there." Both men were wearing hunting gear, camouflage all over, and one of them addressed the trainers.

"Hello." Blake tried to play it cool. "We're, uh, working on merit badges. Camping, you know?" The man smiled, revealing a mouth not so full of teeth. Blake hid his disgust.

"I see that. Funny thing is, we're missing a Pokémon of ours. Seeing how's you two's the only people around, we was thinking that you might have an idea of where it went. Small bear, moon on its head. You seen it?"

"Can't say that I have." Blake kept up his best poker face. "We were just going now, though, so if you lovely gentlemen don't mind, we'll just be going." Blake stood and helped Jordan up, and the two grabbed their bags, turned and ran for their lives. Without turning, they heard the truck starting up, and they tried to pick up speed.

"We're not going to be able to outrun them." Jordan said, and Blake had to agree.

"Can we fight?"

"We're going to have to. I don't think they have any Pokémon." She stopped running and released her Kirlia. "Set up some barriers in between the trees." Kirlia focused and a translucent wall of light appeared in the direction they had been running from. The truck had covered most of the distance between them and shattered through the wall only seconds after its formation.

"Dammit." Jordan cursed. The two men climbed out of their truck, the passenger holding a rifle of some kind.

"Now, now, kids. No reason to be starting trouble here. Unless you know something about our teddy bear." Jordan looked up in a tree, and then back at the men.

"Die in a hole!" She shouted at the men, who chuckled a little bit. The man holding the gun cocked it and threw it over his shoulder.

"We don't want to get violent, missy. You're not giving us much of a choice." The one with the gun pointed it at them.

"Jordan, you're going to get us killed.." Blake whispered.

"Listen to your boyfriend, kiddo. Just tell us what you know and we'll let you go."

"Never!" The man who had been talking gave a sigh and motioned for the one wielding the gun to continue, turning his back on them and climbing back into the truck. The man holding the gun gave an insane cackle and pulled the trigger. The noise caused Blake to flinch and close his eyes. When he realized he was still alive, he opened them, and noticed a green bird Pokémon standing in between Jordan and the attacker. It had one white wing outstretched and the other pointing at the man. Its eyes glowed blue with psychic power, holding the bullets in midair. With a motion of its wings, the bullets flew into a nearby tree. The next motion tied the barrel of the gun into a knot. The man's eyes widened, and he scrambled back into the truck. Before they could drive away, the bird's eyes began to glow and the truck lifted off of the ground and floated up to catch on the branch of a large tree, leaving it suspended.

"What just happened?" Blake was in awe.

"I noticed Xatu up in a tree and got Kirlia to ask for his help. I think my crystal helped a little, but I also think he hates the poachers." The large bird turned towards the trainers, waddling a little as it walked. Blake noticed the tattoo-like markings on it, and kept himself from making a face.

"Uh, thanks for your help. Hey, I don't suppose you can help us get out of this forest, can you?" Xatu's eyes glowed again, and Blake prepared for an attack, but the bird simply turned and began waddling off towards what Blake and Jordan hoped was the exit. They looked at each other, shrugged, and began to follow.


	14. Chapter 14

Xatu made no noise as he waddled through the forest. Blake and Jordan followed, not entirely sure they were going in the right direction. Still, it was better than no lead, and they had no supplies anymore, so another overnighter was not appealing.

"I hope this bird knows what he's doing." Blake whispered to Jordan, causing Xatu to glare at Blake over his shoulder. "Sorry.. I'm just ready to get some food and a shower." Xatu continued walking.

"I trust him. I mean, I can't read minds or anything, but I'm pretty good at reading people. Or, uh, Pokémon." Jordan spoke, and the more Blake thought about this, the more he agreed. She had figured him out pretty quickly, and could tell that he was upset after his narrow win at the lighthouse.

They walked for an hour or two, but the line of trees gradually thinned, then stopped. They had reached a path, one Blake recognized as the path from Ecruteak to the park.

"Finally! I'm sick and tired of trees." He stepped onto the path, and took a deep breath. Jordan looked down at Xatu.

"Don't worry. He's always like that." The bird looked up at her expectantly. "What? Really? Okay, I guess." The bird jumped backwards, and landed with its wings outstretched. Blake turned to see what was going on.

"What's up?"

"Xatu wants to fight me. He wants to know if I'm worthy of his presence or something like that. Like I said, not a mind reader. I think he wants to come with me, but wants me to prove myself." She grabbed a Pokéball and released her Kirlia. The two psychic Pokémon stared each other down, having some sort of mental battle.

"Psywave." Kirlia launched a shimmering pulse of energy, barely visible, at Xatu, who deflected it with a flip of a wing, launching his own in return.

"Teleport." Kirlia disappeared for a moment, reappearing quickly behind Xatu and attempting another Psywave, but Xatu teleported himself.

"I think I can see how this is going to go.." Blake sighed, and sat down to watch. The Pokémon spent approximately thirty minutes teleporting and sending psychic pulses at each other, with no damage being inflicted on either end. Both were getting tired, but Jordan didn't want to give up.

"Barrier!" Kirlia set up walls around Xatu, attempting to trap it in, but Xatu managed to shatter them with his mind.

"Damn it! Double Team!" Kirlia split into four identical Kirlias, and each fired a pulse at Xatu. The bird closed its eyes for a moment, figuring out which was the real one, and blocking that attack as the others dissipated harmlessly on his body.

"Imprison!" A red chain appeared around Xatu's body, locking its psychic moves. "Now use Psychic." The pulse was stronger this time, and managed to hit Xatu, who looked surprised. Still, he continued to fight, using his Psycho Shift attack to move the chains off of his body and onto Kirlia. Xatu raised both wings, causing an eerie gust of wind to blow through, waking Blake up and knocking Kirlia down.

"That's it. I can't do it. I won't let you hurt my Kirlia anymore, but thank you for teaching me." Jordan made a quick bow to Xatu, but when she rose again, he wasn't where he had been standing. The feathered wing tapped her on the shoulder, and she jumped.

"What? Oh, you scared me." Xatu pointed at a Pokéball and nodded. "But I couldn't beat you.." He pointed again, and Blake had to give in, although not unwillingly. "Okay, if you insist." She took the ball off of her belt and focused it on the bird, absorbing him without a struggle. Blake sat up.

"Can we go get some food now?" Jordan nodded and the two headed back to the city.

When they reached Ecruteak, they stopped at the first restaurant they noticed, a small chain type, but they hadn't eaten at all yesterday and didn't mind.

"We should go check in with Morty. The trainers from the other regions are probably here by now." Jordan said, and Blake nodded. They paid for their meal and headed to the gym.

As they stepped inside, Blake could tell that it was dark. When the door closed, he realized that there was literally no light in this building.

"Uh, Morty? It's Blake and Jordan. Just checking in." Something made a noise in the darkness, knocking over something metallic. Seconds later, a light switched on.

"Good thing you're back. I was beginning to worry. The trainers arrived last night, and you were nowhere to be found." Morty picked up a tray that he had knocked over and cleaned up his spilt drink. "I was just meditating. Where were you?"

"We went for a walk, and, uh, got lost. In the forest. Overnight." Jordan went red, and Blake felt guilty that he enjoyed her embarrassment. "Sorry to worry you. Nothing dangerous." Morty raised an eyebrow but didn't push.

"Just remember, I'm not your babysitter. I'm only a few years older than you. I trust that you two can handle yourselves." Both Jordan and Blake nodded.

"Don't worry about us. Where are the trainers?"

"They stayed over at the Pokémon center. I offered my house, but they turned me down. Probably for the best, it's not meant for four people. You guys have my number, right? Call me if you need anything?" Two more nods.

"We're going to go meet them, thanks." Morty nodded, and as the door opened, the lights went back off.

The Pokémon Center smelled like antiseptic, and Blake coughed as they entered. In all of his time as a trainer, he realized that he never had been inside one. The nurse at the counter noticed them enter.

"Can I help you?" she asked. Jordan stepped closer.

"We're looking for our three friends."

"What do they look like?"

"I actually have no idea. We're supposed to meet them here." Three girls stepped down from the upper level.

"Blake and Jordan?" One of them, the oldest looking, asked. She was close to the same age, maybe a little younger. She was about the same height at Jordan, but she had deep blue hair and eyes. Blake couldn't help noticing that she was pretty cute, although he looked away, not wanting Jordan to notice.

"Yeah, are you our friends?" Jordan raised an eyebrow and the girl nodded.

"I'm Raina. This is Alex and Amber." Raina indicated the other two girls.

"Hello." Amber had coppery orange hair, and looked much younger than the others, probably fourteen or fifteen. She looked at Blake with her chocolate brown eyes and gave a determined half-smile. Alex only nodded, causing her short blond hair to bob. She dressed as if she wanted to blend in, not wanting to attract attention, which contrasted her friends appearances: Raina wore a brightly colored hoodie and Amber wore a light sundress.

"So, what's the plan?" Raina asked, and Blake waited for a moment, forgetting that he and Jordan were in charge. He started to speak.

"Uh, well, we're looking for the legendary beasts of Johto. Do you know the stories?" All three girls nodded, and he felt like an idiot for being the only one ever to not know the legends. He continued, "Suicune is believed to be near Mahogany Town, and we don't have any leads on the other two. It's our decision as a group: do we want to split up and look for them or do we all want to stay together?" The three girls looked at each other, and Raina spoke.

"We'd prefer to stay together. I mean, we can handle ourselves, but we don't really know anyone around here other than you two and Morty, and we don't know our way around Johto." Blake nodded.

"Fair enough. Should we head to Mahogany Town first?" A murmur of agreement, and Blake nodded. "Okay, everyone ready to head off?" Blake led the way out of the building, but as he hit the streets, he remembered that he didn't know where Mahogany Town was either. "Jordan, can you lead?" She rolled her eyes at him and headed off to the east.

"So, where are you girls from?" Blake made an effort to get to know his new partners. Amber was the first to reply.

"I'm from Lavaridge Town in Hoenn. I'm the owner of the Flame Crystal." She revealed an orange crystal on a chain around her neck, and Blake nodded.

"I'm from Lilycove City, also in Hoenn. I have the Water Crystal." Raina showed her own necklace, a pale blue crystal, almost transparent.

"Mauville City, Hoenn. Bolt Crystal." Alex held her necklace up, a radiant gold crystal.

"Well, I'm Blake. I'm from Farron Island. I have the Shadow Crystal." He showed his own necklace.

"I'm Jordan from Olivine City, and I have the Mind Crystal." She held up her hand to show her ring.

"Makes me wonder, am I the only guy in this whole group?" Jordan shook her head.

"Nah, we're going to meet Isaac. Plus Morty, sort of. And there's a bunch of other trainers we haven't met. You're just lucky enough to get stuck with us." Her joke earned a smile from each of the new party members, even Alex, who didn't seem to be very social. "This would be a whole lot easier if we could fly." Jordan sighed. A quick glance was shared between the girls from Hoenn, and then Raina nodded. Amber spoke for the group.

"Well, we actually already met Isaac. We just returned from a job in Kanto. And uh," She grabbed a Pokéball and released a Pokémon, a gigantic yellow bird with fire streaming off of its body, and Alex did the same, her Pokémon being a black and yellow bird with jagged wings and static on its feathers.

"Zapdos and Moltres? And Isaac has Articuno?" Jordan seemed to know the Pokémon, although Blake had no idea, he assumed it was another set of legendary Pokémon. Amber and Alex nodded.

"They could probably carry us."

"I didn't think you'd actually be able to capture them." Jordan seemed to be in awe, and Blake could recall Professor Aspen saying as much. Raina let out a small sigh.

"I think things are worse than we expected, and the legendary Pokémon know it. Team Rocket is trying to create a Pokémon and so is Team Plasma. If they manage to succeed, they'll have a chance to capture some of the other legends, and that would be disastrous." The group had to agree.

"Then we need to hurry to Mahogany." Jordan looked up at Moltres and Zapdos. "Do you mind carrying us?" Both birds made loud noises, which the trainers took as permission. Amber, Raina and Jordan climbed up on Moltres, looking a little crowded. Blake was left with Alex to climb onto Zapdos.

"Just follow, I'll lead!" Jordan called, and Blake nodded. Moltres took off and Zapdos lifted off behind, following the stream of fire left behind.


	15. Chapter 15

Any attempts at conversation were stifled quickly by Alex.

"I don't like people. Pokémon are much better." She pulled a music player out of her jacket pocket and effectively shut Blake out. He sighed and watched the ground under him. Luckily, he had never been terrified of heights, although being this high still made him a little uncomfortable. He was pretty well zoned out when he noticed that Alex had put away the music player.

"Batteries died," was her only explanation. She looked away from him, and he felt like he had done something to offend her and brought it up.

"I don't get it. Is it something I said? We just met, I haven't pissed you off too much yet, have I?" She shook her head.

"I'm not a very social person. Like I said, I prefer Pokémon because they know what you're thinking without having to say it. Words are clunky and hard to use." She still was not looking at him, and it made him a little uncomfortable.

"Uh, I see. I guess."

"No you don't, but that's okay. I don't dislike you, don't take it the wrong way. I just prefer to be left alone." He nodded. This was going to be a long trip.

"Don't want to talk about anything? It wouldn't be a bad idea for us to get to know each other. We're going to be working together after all." She sighed and turned to face him.

"My name is Alexandria Graham, but I go by Alex. I have an Electabuzz, a Luxray, and an Exploud, plus this big guy here. I'm sixteen almost seventeen, my parents are divorced and I live with my dad. I enjoy drawing and music and long walks on the beach. Is that enough for you?" Blake's eyes widened as she stared into his eyes.

"Uh, yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry." She closed her eyes, a vibrant gold color that Blake had never really seen before, and looked away.

"Don't worry about it. I think I'll keep to myself for the rest of the trip if you don't mind." Blake nodded, and even though she couldn't see, he figured that his silence would speak for itself. He looked back down at the ground, watching mountains, forests and rivers fly by under them. He almost commented on the ease and speed of air travel but remembered the vow of silence. He closed his eyes to relax.

The trip was cut down, with what could have taken days taking only a few hours. Blake had fallen asleep without noticing, realizing that it wasn't the best idea, but at least he made it. Moltres landed in a field outside of town, and Zapdos followed down behind it. Alex jumped off, and Blake did the same, stretching as he hit the ground. He saw Jordan coming towards them and stifled a yawn.

"What now?"

"We go to look for Isaac. I haven't been here for a while, but he said he'd meet us in town." Amber and Alex recalled their Pokémon and the group headed into the town. Out of habit, Blake ended up walking next to Jordan and the other three seemed to separate into their own smaller group.

"I think I upset Alex." Blake said, and Jordan raised an eyebrow.

"Raina said that she's not big on other people. They knew each other for a year or so before Alex would even talk to them. Don't underestimate any of these girls though, they've been trainers longer than you have. Just stay professional and try not to piss them off. They're pretty close." He nodded.

"I'm not stupid." She gave a light laugh, and he frowned at her.

"Sorry. Here he is." Jordan raised her arm and waved, and the boy from the alley a week or so ago waved back, heading towards them.

"Hey Jordy, I was wondering when you'd get here. Blake." Isaac nodded and offered his hand. "Sorry about that trick we had to play on you, but it was our own little test. I was on the same boat back, you know. I had to avoid you two the whole trip." He smiled, and Blake figured that he was a likable enough guy.

"Don't worry about it. I think if you'd really been out to get me, I'd probably have gotten my ass kicked." Isaac laughed a little.

"Probably. No offense. Hello, girls. Doing well, I hope?" The three girls nodded, and Raina spoke up.

"Hello, Isaac. Nice to see you again. It's like old times." Isaac laughed.

"We just met last week." Still, he came over and hugged the girls like they were old friends. "I thought we could get something to eat before we headed out on our hunt. Where do you want to eat?" They argued for a minute, but they were all still kids, and settled on burgers pretty quickly. Isaac led them to the restaurant he recommended, and he went inside to check the scene. He came out smiling.

"Good news, the owner owes me a favor, so we get in with no wait." Nobody was complaining, and they entered and were led to a table. They ordered various meals, but Blake noticed that Raina only ordered a salad.

"You come to a burger joint and get a salad?" he asked, and Jordan put an elbow into his side.

"I'm a vegetarian." Raina acted as if she got that question a lot, but Blake felt tactless.

"Oh." Still, it was forgotten amongst the conversation. They told stories, with Isaac telling about the Legendary Birds of Kanto, and Jordan telling about the dogs and the battle in the Burned Tower.

"Sounds like a good battle. I wish I was there." Isaac seemed excited by the prospect of such tough opponents, and Blake felt as if he were in over his head: he was paired up with people who could control legendary Pokémon, or even just extremely powerful trainers like Morty. His attention dropped for a second, and there was a lull in the conversation.

"Blake? You awake?" Jordan nudged him again.

"What? Sorry. I zoned out for a bit." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Isaac asked where your plan at the lighthouse came from. We were telling the story, remember?"

"Oh, uh, to be honest, it was improvisation. The battling was Drifloon's idea anyway, and Anorith did the work. I honestly feel a little out of my league here." He looked down into his plate for a second.

"Don't feel that way, you've been a trainer for a little over a week and you've beaten three top executives of Team Rocket. That's nothing to be ashamed of." Blake shrugged.

"It was luck. I still need some work."

"We all could use some work. Don't worry about it." The bill came shortly, and Isaac took it from the waitress. "My treat guys." The others protested, but he insisted, sending them outside. It was mid afternoon, and they still had plenty of time to search for Suicune. Blake noticed the misty air, making it cooler than it had been in Olivine, although he would have had no idea that this was irregular without Isaac having had mentioned it: the town seemed to be build for cold weather, with every building having a chimney for a fireplace and sloped roofs. The people that were about were dressed warmly, so it was evident that they weren't unprepared for such weather. Isaac came out moments later.

"Alright, so if I had to guess, I'd say Suicune's hiding in the Ice Path. Raina needs to go, and I probably need to go because I'm the only one that knows the area. We need one more, how about it, Blake?" The suggestion took Blake by surprise.

"Wait, what? Me? Why me? And why one?"

"I forgot to mention, there's a little problem at the Lake of Rage. It's no big deal, just a Gyarados rampage."

"That sounds like a big deal to me." Blake offered.

"Forget about it. Just come with us, 'kay?" Blake looked at Jordan, who nodded.

"Uh, alright."

"We'll all meet up tonight, okay?" Isaac said, and Jordan, Amber and Alex nodded, heading off to the north. Blake and Raina prepared to Isaac, who headed off to the east. Isaac took a little of a head start, and Blake was left with Raina.

"So, uh, I had a talk with Alex. Is she always like that?" Raina gave a grim smile.

"Sort of. She's a bit of a loner, but she's come a long way. She's really a nice girl, but she's not very trustful. Don't worry about her. She'll come around." She attempted a reassuring smile, and Blake mimicked, although both felt fake.

"Tell me about yourself, then."

"Well, like I said before, I'm from Lilycove City in Hoenn. It's a pretty big city, with a nice mall, and it's right on the beach. Jordan said it sounded a lot like Olivine city. I've been around the water my whole life, so I wasn't surprised when I figured out about this whole business. I have a lot of water type Pokémon already. My oldest partner is Gorebyss, but I have a few others too: Ludicolo, Crawdaunt and Lapras. Actually, speaking of Pokémon, I meant to ask you something."

"What's up?"

"Jordan mentioned your Magikarp, and that you haven't figured out how to use it. I was thinking you might give me a chance to work with it. I love water type Pokémon and I'm sure I can train it. We can make a temporary trade, how about that? My Crawdaunt loves to battle, and you and he should get along well since he's a dark type as well as water."

"Magikarp? Well, I have no idea how to train him, so you're welcome to try. Sure, that sounds good to me." He grabbed the Pokéball containing Magikarp and handed it to Raina, who handed him back another ball.

"I'll warn you, he might not listen to you at first, but I think you'll get along," she said.

"It's worth a try." They reached the entrance to the cave, and Blake could tell that this was going to be interesting. Icicles lined the entrance, and the cave floor was covered in sheets of ice and patches of snow.

"Let's do this." Isaac flashed a thumbs up sign and led the way in.


	16. Chapter 16

"Ohmygodit'scold."

"Blake, it's called the Ice Path. It's not going to be subtropical." Isaac reminded him. Blake was glad he was wearing his jacket, and he zipped it up all the way and pulled his hood on. Isaac ad Raina watched with amusement.

"Alright. Well, this place is a maze, basically. It's not too hard to navigate if you know what you're doing, but someone thought it'd be a great idea to use boulders as a puzzle. I've got a Pokémon that can push them, so just leave this part to me." Isaac took out a Pokéball and called out his Pokémon, a bear like the Ursaring Blake had met before, but of a lightish blue color, with frosty fur and ice crystals around its jaw. The Pokémon seemed at home on the ice and went about its job.

"Well, Beartic's going to take a little time. I was meaning to ask you, Blake, how'd you and Jordan end up together so quickly?" Isaac asked.

"Together? Us? We uh, I uh, she, it's, uh.." Blake went red and couldn't find any words, and both Isaac and Raina had a laugh at his expense.

"I think they're cute." Raina said, and Isaac nodded.

"Blake reminds me of myself at that age. I always did have a way with girls." Isaac gave Blake a wink, and Raina rolled her eyes.

"You're only nineteen. That was two years ago." The bear Pokémon gave a roar, signifying its finish.

"Nice job." Isaac recalled it, and explained the idea.

"We can't walk on this ice without special gear, but the boulders will allow you to push yourself off and travel with momentum. Just follow me and do what I do." He took off and skidded across the huge patch of ice, catching himself on one boulder and pushing off towards the next. Raina followed, and when she had made it off of the first rock, Blake went after, nearly slipping as he stepped on to the ice. After a few jumps, he had gotten the hang of it, even enjoying as he went.

"That was cool." He made it to the far side where the other two were waiting for him.

"I have a feeling that I know where Suicune is waiting. Just follow me." Isaac continued leading the way. They reached a ladder, and climbed into a lower level of the cave. A staircase was hidden away in a corner, and they headed further down into the ground.

"See that frozen waterfall there?" A layer of ice barricaded the edge of the path they were on, but Blake could see the waterfall Isaac pointed out. "That's my guess. There's another ladder over here, and we'll hopefully find Suicune." They descended the last ladder, and across a frozen lake in the bottom of this cave, they could see the legendary dog. The room was full of a misty fog, making it colder still than the ground level of the cave, probably from the Pokémon. It regarded the trainers as they approached, giving a nod of its head and causing its purple mane to shake. The Pokémon began to speak directly into their minds, shocking Blake; he had no idea that Pokémon could talk.

_"Greetings, humans. I know why you are here. Who wields the Water Crystal?" _Raina stepped forward, and Suicune moved closer to inspect her. _"You will do, for now. I can sense no evil intentions, but I warn you that I will help only in your battle to keep the Pokémon of this world free. I will not participate in any petty battles. Do not depend on me, girl, as I am not a tool. I and my brethren are more powerful than you will ever know."_ Suicune turned to Blake. _"Thank you for freeing us, human, although I wonder if it may have been a better idea for you to leave us be. I will assist you in finding my brothers. Entei has gone to Mount Silver, and Raikou will be found near the city you call Cianwood. Now, girl, you have my permission to capture me." _Raina nodded and pulled out a Pokéball that he hadn't seen before, although he believed it to be the same as the ones holding Moltres and Zapdos, and looking at the belts of Raina and Isaac, confirmed this belief. She focused it on Suicune who put up no fight.

"That was anticlimactic." Blake was the first to speak, and the others rolled their eyes at him.

"Come on, man, that's touching. This dog could beat every Pokémon we own between the three of us with one move."

"I didn't mean it like that! I was just sort of expecting a major battle or something. I'm glad to have him on our side though." Isaac motioned back up to the top of the cave, but as they turned, they noticed a man blocking the way. His face and body were cloaked because of the cool weather, but as he spoke, Blake knew immediately who it was.

"Not so fast. That dog is mine, and I won't allow you to leave with him." Alpha spoke, and Isaac grinned at Blake. Alpha's Kingdra floated closer to them, preparing for battle.

"Here's your big battle. Allow me. Glalie!" Isaac tossed out a Pokéball, and the Pokémon he had been using back on Farron Island. "Blizzard!" Any warmth that may have been present in the cave was gone in an instant, and Blake shivered. Still, he was glad that he wasn't Kingdra, who was on the receiving end of the snow and ice coming out of Glalie's mouth. Kingdra looked pretty drained from the attack, and Blake assumed that was the dragon type showing. It would be a super-effective attack, and Kingdra didn't seem to be moving.

"Kingdra, Hyper Beam!" Kingdra remained still. Isaac laughed.

"He's frozen, but don't worry, I'll get him out. Double-Edge!" Glalie charged at the frosty Kingdra, sending it flying into its trainer and knocking them both onto a patch of ice, which had them quickly out of sight.

"Time to go." Isaac said cheerfully, leading the way. The rest of the trip to the entrance was met by no resistance, so the group figured Alpha was alone. As they exited the cave, Blake noticed that the fog was gone, confirming his hypothesis that Suicune was the cause. His phone began to ring as he was thinking about this.

"Blake! There are Rockets here! We need you three to come up and give us backup!" Jordan hung up before he had a chance to respond, but he closed the phone and told his group.

"The lake was an ambush. They're being attacked by Rockets and we need to get back." Isaac nodded and ran off back toward the city, and Raina and Blake followed close behind. The cave wasn't far from town, and they were back shortly. Isaac continued down the path that Jordan and the others had headed down when they split, and they followed him to a building. As they ran through, a man in what looked like a sailors outfit stopped him. His bandanna featured a white 'A', and his striped shirt was matched by blue pants.

"Stop! You are unauthorized to enter!" the man was shoved aside by Isaac, but managed to regain his composure to block the way for the other two. "I'll have to resort to violence, then."

"What's Team Aqua doing here?" Raina was ignored as the man called out two Pokémon, one a fearsome and battle-scarred shark, and the other a large crab with one claw much larger than the other. Raina called out the Magikarp she had just received, and Blake decided to test out the Pokémon he had gotten in return, calling out Crawdaunt.

"Magikarp, use Tackle!" The small fish ceased its flopping to obey his new trainer, and Blake cursed under his breath.

"Crawdaunt, use Hydro Pump!" Blake called the only water attack he had seen, but the crab only looked at him, shaking its head.

"Kingler, get in and fight it! Sharpedo, Take Down!" The enemy crab moved in closer and the two locked claws, grappling for a moment. It seemed that Kingler was stronger, but Crawdaunt had height and range on it, and managed to flip it on its back. The shark Pokémon dove at Magikarp, who dodged easily and continued slamming his small body into that of the larger Pokémon.

"You must be good, he didn't do anything for me but flop around."

"Crawdaunt's strongest move is Crabhammer, but he can use a lot of physical attacks. You're not going to get a Hydro Pump out of him." Raina threw some pointers, which Blake took to heart.

"Crabhammer!" Crawdaunt launched itself at Kingler, slamming a pincer into its exposed underbelly with a crack. There was no way Kingler could recover from that, so the trainer recalled it and attempted to use the one Pokémon to hold two off. Before Blake could assist, Sharpedo dove at Magikarp, going under and slicing with a dorsal fin. Magikarp was rather tough, and looked pissed. It gave a death glare and began to glow, becoming more elongated and filling most of the room. Blake and Raina backed off as the newly formed Pokémon fired a Hyper Beam into the side of the shark, knocking it into a desk across the room.

"I'd better warn the others!" The man collected his Pokémon and took off for the lake.

"Blake, I think this trade worked out. Gyarados seems to like me a whole lot more than he liked you, no offense meant. Crawdaunt seems to be able to work well with you. Do you want to make it permanent?" Raina offered, and Blake considered for a moment, nodding.

"Sounds good to me. Nice to meet you, Crawdaunt." Blake stepped closer to examine his new Pokémon, a large orange crab with a star plastered on its head and blue markings on its stomach. Crawdaunt felt that he was too close and blew a warning bubble into Blake's face.

"Alright, alright! I get it." Blake stepped back. "My team's turning into a lobster bar.." He and Raina stepped out to continue on to the lake.


	17. Chapter 17

The lake was chaos, as the local trainers battled against a mix of Rocket and Aqua grunts. Blake scanned the scene for any of his friends, but couldn't see them.

"I guess we get to battle our way through." Blake put his hand on a Pokéball, preparing for the event of a battle should they be attacked. It wasn't long before a grunt of each faction came to deal with them. The Rocket tossed out an annoying bat Pokémon that Blake had seen in the Ice Path, screeching and slobbering venom. The Aqua grunt chose a furry duck like Pokémon wearing a leafy sombrero. Together, they made one of the most ridiculous combinations, although Blake knew he couldn't let his guard down; they weren't a match for two crystal trainers, but it wouldn't do to be careless. Crawdaunt and Gyarados still followed the trainers and prepared for their own battles.

"Let's end this quickly. Gyarados, Aqua Tail!" Raina called, but instead of lashing out at one of the enemy Pokémon, Gyarados slammed Crawdaunt in the back. Blake opened his mouth to shout, but as he did, Crawdaunt stretched both claws out and slammed into the duck, sending it flying.

"I've always wanted to do that." Crawdaunt scrambled up and chased the bat around in circles, nipping at it but not able to catch it. Frustrated, Crawdaunt let out a creaking noise that infuriated the bat into circling back and diving at Crawdaunt, who slammed it into the ground with a pincer.

"That was Taunt." Raina explained. "It basically pisses off the other Pokémon."

The Rocket and Aqua recalled their Pokémon and sprinted away, leaving the path to the lakeshore open. They continued quickly to find their friends. As they closed the distance, they saw the other crystal holders battling the executives of Team Rocket, minus Alpha, who was presumably still in the icy cave. Amber fought against Beta and his Houndoom, and Alex was paired with Gamma and Manectric. Amber's choice of Pokémon was a large red camel spewing magma and molten rock out of the humps on its back, and Alex had her Electabuzz out.

"They'll be fine. Let's find Jordan and Isaac." They turned towards a small house where a fisherman must live and saw more battles raging in the yard. Jordan fought against a woman wearing an Aqua uniform, and Isaac battled a bulky man in the same. Xatu was fending off a stony looking fish, the only marking on it being a small splash of red on either side, and Isaac's Beartic fought against a long blue fish with a gaping mouth and orange fins. A third Aqua member was watching, and noticed the arrival of both Raina and Blake, pulling out his own Pokéball.

"Ah, and you must be looking for me. Sorry, toots, you're going to have to wait for me to deal with the boy first. Alpha's supposed to be here taking you on, but he's gone missing." Keeping his mouth shut, Blake recalled Crawdaunt and picked a different Pokémon. He had a feeling that Drifloon would be useful, and released him in a flash of light. The man laughed and sent out his own Pokémon, a large white pelican with a huge beak, probably able to fit a Pokémon or a small person in.

"Don't get eaten, Drifloon. It's a bird, so clip his wings with Thunderbolt!" Drifloon's cloud sparked with static, and a stray bolt was launched at the bird, stunning it for a moment. On an Aqua grunt, this would have been enough, so Blake made the guess that these three were executives. The bird shook off the attack, and prepared to reply.

"Water Pulse!" The bird opened its beak and fired a ring of vibrating water at Drifloon, hitting him and sending him spinning off. "Your thunder attacks aren't going to work, kiddo. My Pelipper has a dampener. You didn't think we'd fight without covering our backsides, did you?" Blake knew he had to get rid of that dampener, so he put to use a trick Jordan had shown him.

"Drifloon, get in close! You know what to do!" The balloon Pokémon sped in as fast as he could, right up into Pelipper's face, phasing through the bird as it nipped at him.

"What was that supposed to do?" the Aqua laughed, stopping as he realized Blake was laughing with him.

"That was Trick. That's why you don't depend solely on an item." Drifloon waved a wispy arm at the man, holding the mechanical dampener.

"Uh oh! Hydro Pump! Let's end this before he can get at us again!" Pelipper leaned forward, spewing huge amounts of water at Drifloon, who hardly managed to avoid getting soaked.

"Thunderbolt again!" The bolt hit Pelipper once more, with a much greater effect this time around. It was still hanging on, and managed to surprise them with one last burst of speed.

"Sky Attack!" The bird flew nearly straight up, and Blake lost sight of it in the sun. It was clear that Drifloon had too, because the bird flew back down into Drifloon, slamming it down into the ground. Both Pokémon were struggling now, and it looked like the next one to land a move would be the victor.

"Shadow Ball!"

"Water Pulse!"

The two attacks were launched at the same time, and collided in the air, exploding with a bang and a flash of light, Blake covered his face, and when he looked up, he saw Pelipper on the ground, with Drifloon floating only inches above. Blake ran over and grabbed his partner.

"Hey, nice job, buddy. You can take a break now, I'll get Armaldo to finish." The balloon Pokémon fought to free itself from Blake's arms. "Calm down! You won, take a rest!" Drifloon managed to break free, and at that moment, started to glow. Blake blinked at the glowing light, and watched Drifloon's shape change, growing larger with four arms instead of two. As the light died down, Blake knew that his Drifloon had evolved into Drifblim.

"Alright, you want to fight that badly?" Blake asked, and Drifblim made an affirmative noise.

"We're not done yet, so he'll get his chance!" The man had already recalled his first Pokémon and sent his next, a blue and brown fish with long whiskers.

"Whiscash, use Aqua Tail!" The fish swam through the air at Drifblim, and lashed out with its tail, but as it got closer, Drifblim smacked it with two arms, causing it to flinch and miss its attack.

"Shadow Ball!" Drifblim was much more powerful than Drifloon, and the Shadow Ball was much larger than it had been. It slammed into Whiscash's side, although Whiscash seemed to be immune to the hit, a nonchalant look on his face.

"That's Whiscash's Amnesia. It makes him really hard to hurt." Raina explained.

"Well, he can't forget Drifblim if we're up in his face. Get in close and use Acrobatics!" Drifblim dropped the dampener and floated closer, slapping Whiscash all over with multiple arms. Whiscash seemed to be enjoying this a lot less, and began to flail around to get Drifblim away.

"Whiscash, use Spark!" The fish began to crackle with static, and swam towards Drifblim.

"Sucker Punch!" The second before Whiscash made contact, Drifblim disappeared, reappearing under the confused fish and slamming into its underside.

"Looks like he's gone belly up." Blake said, and Raina groaned.

"Dooonnnn't.. That wasn't even close to being good." She held one hand to her face.

"I'll work on it."

"Please don't.." The Aqua recalled his Pokémon and turned to check out the other battles. Jordan had just finished with her opponent, and Isaac had finished too.

"Matt, Shelly, you didn't lose too, did you?" The man they were battling against called out to his partners.

"Eh, we took it easy on them. This isn't as important as our work in Hoenn, or Archie would have gone himself." The big man, Matt, shouted back. "The Rockets can handle themselves here, let's go, Sean." The man Blake had battled winked at him.

"Nice battle kid. Come find me in Hoenn and I'll give you a real battle. I was holding back, I promise." He headed over with his partners, and together they took off from the lake.

"Let's go check on Amber and Alex." The other four headed off to where the girls had been battling, and noticed small craters in the ground, along with seared patches of grass and trees.

"It's a disaster area. I hope they're alright." The girls were nowhere in sight, but after a moment, the group heard their voices. Amber called out from the gatehouse.

"They ran away! We chased them as far as we could, but they lost us before we got back to the city." Both girls jogged over, looking out of breath. "I think the Rockets are gone, though."

"It wasn't just the Rockets. We were fighting Team Aqua. It looks like they've got stakes in Johto as well." Blake mentioned. "Why were they here in the first place?"

"There are a lot of Gyarados here. If I had to guess, I'd say that they wanted to control the Gyarados and use them for something. Other than that, there's not much here." Isaac explained.

"Did you find Suicune?" Jordan asked. Raina held up the strange Pokéball.

"Yes. He told us where Entei and Raikou were. I've been thinking, though. With the three of us here, there's no one in Hoenn. Alex, Amber and I can handle ourselves here. You three should head to Hoenn and keep an eye out there. That Sean guy mentioned something about plans in Hoenn, and I'm a little worried. What do you think?"

"Uh, I hadn't really considered that. You do make a good point though." Isaac thought for a moment. "Makes sense, I suppose. I'll leave you the key to my house if you want."

"Here's mine, too." Jordan offered. Raina took both and handed one of her own over.

"You can stay at my place in Lilycove. We're going to go to Mount Silver first. Are you going back to Olivine?"

"Yeah, I think so. We can make sure we have everything we need, and catch the boat from there." Jordan replied.

"Sounds like a plan."


	18. Chapter 18

"It's nice to be back." Jordan took in a deep breath. She led Isaac and Blake into Olivine City after Articuno had dropped them off outside of town. They had left Mahogany Town that night and it was early in the morning when they arrived, but the town was already buzzing with the start of the new day. They had to pass through the town marketplace on the way to Jordan's house, and she bought some breakfast from a stall owner she knew, handing some food to both boys.

"Thanks. When does our boat get here?" Blake asked.

"Raina said that a friend of theirs would pick us up in about an hour or two."

"Well, let's get back to your house. I'd kind of like a shower." Blake said, and the others nodded. They finished their quick meal as they walked, and made it to the house in no time at all. Jordan unlocked the door and let the boys in.

"Only one shower. I'll go first. You two can hang out for now." Jordan went up the stairs, leaving the boys alone.

"Well." Isaac said. Blake shrugged. Isaac motioned to the television, where Jordan had a gaming system hooked up. "You play?"

"Oh, jeez, it's been a while. To tell you the truth, I hadn't even noticed that before. Uh, sure, I'm game." Isaac stepped over and flipped the electronics on, tossing Blake a controller. He picked out an arcade style fighting game and started it up.

"Alright, let me warm up a little bit." Blake turned the controller in his hands, checking the buttons.

"Take your time."

It took Blake a few rounds to warm up, but he got the hang of the game after a while, beating Isaac in a few rounds. The two were getting pretty into the game when both were smacked in the back of the head by throw pillows.

"You're up, boys. Figure out who's next." Jordan stood behind the couch, her hair still wet from the shower, and in a different outfit than before. Isaac turned to Blake.

"Next round wins?"

"Sure."

Both played their hardest, as if the prize were a large sum of money rather than a shower. Blake started out with an advantage, but Isaac managed to interrupt his combo and sweep him with only a sliver of health remaining.

"Ah, dammit." Blake cursed, and Isaac patted him on the back.

"Maybe next time. I've had more experience after all." He winked and headed upstairs. Jordan came over and sat next to Blake.

"Boys." She rolled her eyes, and he leaned into her.

"What's wrong with boys?" Blake asked, cuddling up to her and forcing her to jump back.

"Ew, get off. You're still gross."

"Am not." He pouted and stretched out his arms, pulling her into an embrace.

"Blake, get off! I just showered. Ew." Jordan squirmed out of his arms, still attempting to be upset with him. "You're such a dork."

"Maybe so." He shrugged. "Want to play?"

"Nah, as much as I'd enjoy kicking your ass, I think I'll pass. I'm gonna go pack some clothes and stuff."

"I guess I ought to as well." He sighed, then found his bag of clothes, picking out a few pieces and filling his travel bag. "Done. Wanna play now?" Jordan rolled her eyes and left the room. Blake wasted a few minutes, and eventually it was his turn to take a shower. He headed upstairs with an outfit and into the bathroom.

"Blake! Hurry up, you're going to make us late!" He had just finished getting redressed when Jordan began yelling. He ran a towel through his hair one last time and exited.

"How is it always my fault? You took the longest." Blake tossed the towel down at her and she dodged, sticking her tongue out.

"It's always your fault."

"That's not fair."

"Shut up and grab your stuff." Blake pulled his shoes on and grabbed his bag from off the rail at the top of the stairs.

"Let's go." The three headed out the door. Jordan locked the door and attached a note for Raina, Alex and Amber near the knob.

"Alright. To the docks!" She turned and paced off, with the boys trailing behind. She set a quick pace and Blake and Isaac had to nearly jog to keep up. The dock was down the street from Jordan's basically beachfront house, and they were there quickly. It was a busy place, with ships going in and out, but one smaller boat was stationary in the chaos. Jordan headed towards it, assuming it was theirs. A weathered looking old man stood in front, regarding them as they approached.

"Ahoy! I'm Mr. Briney! Are you my crew?" The man was very loud and seemed friendly, although Blake was still taken aback by the question.

"Yes. I'm Jordan, this is Isaac, and this is Blake. Thank you for agreeing to take us." Jordan gave a polite bow, but the boys settled for a nod. Mr. Briney gave a loud laugh.

"No problem, kids. I owe those girls a favor anyway, what with them saving my darling Peeko. Honestly, I've never seen a bird get stuck in a tree, have you? Anyway, we're ready to set off as soon as you're aboard." He motioned them across a short board allowing them to step onto the boat, and they followed him on.

"Now, I run a tight ship here. I meant what I said about you kids being my crew. Can any of you cook? I've got food, but we need someone to make dinner. Barring any trouble at sea, we shouldn't need more than the one meal." Blake groaned inwardly, having only had the small snack that Jordan had purchased in the market, but he figured that he'd survive until dinnertime. Jordan volunteered for cooking, and headed into the ship's cabin to check the stocks. Briney turned to Blake and Isaac.

"Well, looks like you two get to learn about sailing."

Blake stumbled into the cabin hours later, collapsing into his seat as Jordan brought over a plate of food.

"Jeez.. The old man worked us like slaves.." Isaac had limped in behind him and mumbled his agreement. Mr. Briney followed them in, laughing cheerfully to himself.

"Nice job today, boys. Smells delicious, dear." Briney inhaled, smiling at the food on the table, grabbing his own plate.

"Eat up, boys, we have more work to do." Both groaned, but Mr. Briney seemed unfazed. He took only a moment to clean his plate. As he turned to leave, he grabbed Isaac and Blake by the collar, dragging them along, prompting a giggle from Jordan, who set about cleaning the table.

After an hour or so of more work, Blake and Isaac reentered the cabin.

"We finally get a break. He said we're almost there.." Blake doubled over and sucked in air, trying to catch his breath.

"What's the matter, out of shape?" Jordan teased, and he waved her off.

"I'm in fine shape.. I'm just not.. used to so much work. We've been doing all his busy work, cleaning and repairs and stuff. I'm ready for a nap."

"Lazy." Jordan came over and gave him a hug. "Come on, let's go back outside and get ready to land." They stepped out of the cabin and into the orange light of the setting sun. Mr. Briney waved to them and pointed to the horizon, where they could see the silhouettes of buildings.

"We're landing in Lilycove in a few minutes!" Jordan waved back to acknowledge him. She then turned to Blake and Isaac.

"Hey, does it seem a lot brighter to you? I know it's still early fall, but it's pretty warm too, don't you think?" Isaac shrugged it off.

"This is another region. The weather's going to be a little different. I'm more worried about what we're going to do when we get there. As far as I know, we have no plans."

"Sounds good to me," Blake said. "I think I'm going to sleep for a day or two." The boat slowed as they reached the harbor, and Mr. Briney docked the ship.

"All ashore that's going ashore!" he called, shooing them off of the boat. "Come and visit me near Petalburg if you get the chance!" Without a second thought, Briney turned the boat and headed back out to the sea. Blake rubbed his back.

"I'm not terribly disappointed to see him go.."


	19. Chapter 19

"Ooh, there's a mall here." The three sat inside the tourism building in Lilycove City, planning their movements. Jordan held a small brochure she received from the desk, looking for local attractions.

"That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. I've still only got the clothes I packed, and I haven't had many chances to do laundry." Blake said.

"There's a museum too, next door to the mall."

"Museums are boring though." Jordan rolled her eyes at him.

"You're just a child, you wouldn't understand."

"I'm a month and a half older than you!"

"But I'm practically an adult. You still behave like a child." Blake stuck his tongue out at her.

"I do not." Before Blake could reply further, his phone rang. Raising an eyebrow, he answered. "Hello?"

"Hello, Blake? This is Professor Birch, from Littleroot Town. I'm actually in Lilycove, Alex called to let me know you were heading to Hoenn. It just so happens that I could use your group's help. Can you meet me at the museum?" The professor sounded excited, and spoke quickly. He gasped for breath as he finished his request.

"Uh. Yeah." The call ended, and Blake closed his phone. "Guess we're going to the museum after all."

They left the small building and headed to a much larger building a few streets down, Jordan leading the way with the map she had taken from the tourism department. They stepped inside, and even Blake was amazed by the exhibits lining the walls: submarines, Pokémon skeletons, fossils, ancient tablets and texts.

"It's fifty dollars for a children's ticket." A lady sitting behind the admission counter said without even looking up from her book. Jordan looked at Isaac, and the two quickly tiptoed past the gate. They made for the stairs in the back of the room and went up. Blake made to follow them, but the receptionist looked up at him expectantly.

"You know you have to pay for those two also." Blake cursed under his breath, pulling out his wallet.

"They owe me big time.." He dropped a bill on the counter and ran for the stairs.

"What the hell, guys?" Jordan giggled and grabbed him by the hand, leading over to where a man in a lab coat was focusing intently on one of the exhibits. He didn't notice their arrival until Jordan tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm? Oh, yes! Hello, I'm Professor Birch. You must be Jordan." He grab her hand and gave her a lively handshake, leaving her a little jittery. Blake received one next. "And Blake." Before he could reach for Isaac's hand, Isaac stepped back and waved, earning a laugh from the professor. "Sorry, I'm a little excited. Two of our trainers called and said they found the parts of our puzzle."

"What puzzle is that, professor?" Jordan asked.

"Well, you know, of course, about the beasts of Johto and the birds of Kanto. In Hoenn, we have a creation myth. Er, maybe myth isn't the right word. Anyway, there were two Pokémon, one responsible for creating the land and one the sea. Another Pokémon was in charge of pulling the continents to their current places, called Regigigas. Regigigas had three minions, one of ice, one of stone, and one of steel. The stone golem and steel golem have already been captured by Grant and Stella. We need Isaac to travel to Dewford Town, or more precisely an island off the coast of Dewford. There's a captain near Petalburg that would be happy to take you across the sea, I'm sure. His name's Mr. Briney." Isaac went pale for a moment at the idea.

"Oh, uh, no, I'm sure Articuno would fly us, that won't be necessary."

"Well, it is a pretty long trip."

"Don't worry, it can handle the three of us."

"Actually, I have a different request for Blake and Jordan. There are two other Pokémon said to roam Hoenn. They only appear for two trainers with a special bond. I know that you two just met, but I was hoping that your friendship would be enough for Latias and Latios to appear." Jordan turned to Blake, who went slightly pink.

"Uh, yeah. Friendship. Good stuff," he stammered, causing the professor to laugh again.

"Rumor has it that they're flying around the islands to the south of here. I couldn't get the help of Captain Stern, it seems that he's busy looking for Kyogre, but I rented some jet skis for you two. You may want to stock up on supplies, there are some islands along the way that you can camp on, if you don't mind. Do you have any money?" The professor dug around in his pocket, pulling out a wad of bills and thrusting it at Jordan. "Go stock up and meet me at the shipyard. Isaac, you should head out too. I'll be waiting at the dock, take your time! I'll just research the local Pokémon!" The excitable professor jogged off down the staircase, and the three heard the receptionist shout at him to refrain from running.

"Seems like a nice guy. Wonder why he brought us here, though. We could have met somewhere else." Isaac mused. Jordan pointed to the exhibit that the professor had been looking over, full of models of many Pokémon they had never seen before. A large white behemoth of a Pokémon tugged on molten rock, and Blake assumed that it was Regigigas placing the continents. Behind it were three smaller golems, one a shiny silver, one a dusty brown color and one crystal clear.

"I assume that's my target." Isaac indicated the icy Pokémon and turned back to the other two. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you two. You've got my number if you need me." He nodded, then headed outside for himself. Blake and Jordan followed a moment after, but Isaac was gone when they exited the building. Looking up, Blake noticed the shadow of a large bird in the distance, heading to the southwest.

"I hope he's alright." Jordan said, and Blake put his arm around her shoulder.

"He's pretty tough. Don't worry about him."

"You're right. Ready to go shopping?" She gave Blake a devilish grin, and he had the funny feeling that this wasn't going to be fun.

And he was right. He had been hoping it was more of a scene from movies, but here he was, carrying the bags of clothes and supplies Jordan had purchased.

"I feel like a pack mule Pokémon." Blake grumbled, and Jordan bumped him, nearly causing him to collapse.

"Hey, at least I bought you stuff too," she said.

"More for me to carry."

"I'm carrying a bag."

"It's a bag of trail mix. And you're eating it. Already."

"We haven't eaten yet. I'm hungry."

"We don't have time to stop now either, the professor's been waiting for almost three hours. We'll eat later. You did get food, right?" Blake asked.

"Of course. And another rope. I never did get mine back from the poachers." She looked thoughtful for a moment, before heading towards the exit. "I guess we're good to go. Let's meet up with the professor." She strolled out the door, leaving Blake to stumble his way to the docks.

He eventually made his way to the dock where they had landed that morning, and dropped the bags he was carrying in front of Jordan.

"We didn't get a chance to leave any of the stuff at Raina's house." Blake said as he began to repack his backpack.

"I can drop it off for you when you leave if you'd like." the professor offered.

"That'd be great." Jordan began to repack as well, and the professor tossed each of them a key.

"These are just rentals, so try not to damage them too badly. I already marked the island on Jordan's map, so you guys are good to go. Be careful, okay?" The professor pounded Blake on the back and grabbed the bags he was meant to take to Raina's house. "Call me when you get back, okay?" The professor loaded up his small car and drove off, leaving the two alone.

"You ready to go?" Blake asked, and Jordan nodded. "Alright. Let's do this." Blake jumped aboard his watercraft and sat, turning it on and splashing Jordan as he sped off.

"Hey! Get back here!" Jordan jumped down and activated her own, hurrying to catch up. "You're going to regret that!"


	20. Chapter 20

The jet skis slowly died down, coming to a stop. Landing on the sand of a small island, Blake hopped off, shaking the water out of his hair as he dropped his backpack on the beach.

"You look like a dog when you do that." Jordan laughed at him as she walked up beside him.

"It's your fault I'm wet."

"I told you I was going to get you back. Come on, we stopped for a reason. Let's eat." She dropped her own bag and pulled some packaged foods out. "Go get some wood, and we'll start a fire." Blake nodded and headed down to the beach to grab some driftwood.

Blake walked along the beach for a few minutes, grabbing some sticks before noticing a Pokémon lying on the beach. Curious, he moved closer. It was a pink Pokémon with a long tail, covered in scratches and bruises. Blake dropped the wood and picked the Pokémon up, beginning to run back to Jordan.

"Jordan! I found an injured Pokémon! We have to help!" Jordan saw him coming, and pulled some first aid supplies out of a bag. She motioned Blake over, and he set the Pokémon on a blanket she had spread while he was gone. Jordan took the cap off of a potion and sprayed the Pokémon, who looked to be in pain, although it made no noise.

"It's a Slowpoke. They're pretty sturdy, so whatever hurt this one must be pretty tough." She finished spraying it, and wrapped some of the cuts with bandages. "I'm no doctor. There's not much I can do. I think he'll be fine though. I'll watch him, go get the wood." Blake hurried off, finding the spot where he had dropped his load from before. "I'm back. How's Slowpoke doing?"

"He's alright. Look." The Pokémon had woken up, and looked up at Blake.

"~poke." Slowpoke gave a lazy smile.

"It's thanking you."

"Uh, no problem. Do you know what beat you up so badly?" Slowpoke nodded, and stood. "Hey, take it easy. You just woke up, we have time to eat first." Blake began setting up the wood to make a fire, and Jordan tossed him the matches. They soon had a fire going and food was heating. When it was finished, Jordan brought some over to Slowpoke.

"Here, we'll share." Slowpoke seemed delighted and they all dug in. Slowpoke finished his food, and stood. It began to walk off deeper into the island, before turning to look back at Blake and Jordan.

"I guess we follow?" Jordan asked.

"Well, we are in a hurry.. Still, I don't want to leave him here to get attacked again." They stood and walked off after Slowpoke. The Pokémon led Blake and Jordan through a sparsely populated forest, coming across a cave surrounded on all sides by stone or trees. Slowpoke let out a cry and multiple Slowpoke came into view from inside the cave and from the surrounding forests. As the other Pokémon ran out to meet the injured Slowpoke, they held some sort of conversation, seemingly about the two trainers. All of the Slowpoke turned to face Blake and Jordan, who froze. Suddenly, another form stepped out from the cave. It appeared to be a Slowpoke with a large shell on its head.

"Hello. I'm Slowking. Thank you for helping us."

"You can talk?" Blake gasped, and Slowking laughed.

"Yes. The shell crown I wear increases my mental powers by an astounding amount. I even learned the human language, not that I get the chance to use it often. I want to thank you for saving my nephew." Slowpoke looked up and smiled at them.

"Uh, no problem. What beat him up so badly in the first place?"

"There is a Pokémon that runs wild on this island. It is one that isn't native to this land, and I assume it was owned by a trainer at some point. It is called Scrafty, and I am unable to stop it." Slowking seemed distraught, and the smaller Slowpoke looked terrified at the mention of the wild Pokémon. "Possibly though, you two could. If you're willing to help?"

"Of course. Right, Jordan?" She nodded.

"Yeah. Just lead us to him!" Slowking smiled sheepishly.

"Well, we've never exactly gone looking for him. He usually comes by here around this time though." An eerie silence filled the air and any bird Pokémon that had been chirping were silent. "And it appears I am correct." He indicated the far end of the island where Blake and Jordan had landed. Standing in the path was a reptilian Pokémon, around the height of a young child. It was orange in most places, but a loose layer of yellow skin bunched around its shoulders and waist. Its eerie grin was unnerving, and Blake brought a hand down to his Pokéballs.

"Alright, Drifblim, let's do this."

"Xatu, we're going to help." Jordan called out her own Pokémon, making it two on one. Scrafty cracked its knuckles and sprinted towards them, kicking off of the ground and landing a foot on Drifblim, sending it spiraling. Drifblim straightened itself up and launched a quick Shadow Ball at the attacker, who shrugged it off. Xatu followed up with a Psywave, again absorbed by a grinning Scrafty.

"This thing is tough. Plus it gives me the creeps." Blake commented.

"It's a dark type. Ghost attacks aren't going to do much, and Psychic will do nothing. It's also a fighting type, so it's attacks are strong too." Slowking offered.

"Well, we made bad choices here then. If we can't use energy attacks, we'll just have to play his game." Blake said. "Get in close!" Drifblim floated in closer, swinging its arms at Scrafty, who blocked every one. Xatu took to the sky in a graceful display of awkwardness: it was fairly evident that he preferred being on the ground. Still, he looped around and dove at Scrafty. Drifblim moved out of the way at the last second, leaving nothing between the bird and the reptile. Before Xatu could land an attack, Scrafty grabbed him by the beak and flipped him over his shoulder.

"Xatu!" Jordan called as the bird Pokémon hit the ground. Scrafty gave a mischievous chuckle and lunged at Drifblim. Drifblim dodged one attack, but its attacker closed the gap once more. Drifblim floated in one spot, waiting for Scrafty to get close. As he did, Drifblim wrapped its limbs around the other Pokémon, holding it as it struggled to get free. His eyes widened as he found his escape: he sunk his teeth into one of Drifblim's arms, causing his grip to loosen enough for the reptilian Pokémon to slip out, leaving nothing but some loose skin behind.

"That's gross. Keep going, Drifblim!" Scrafty lifted himself off of the ground and pointed a fist crackling with electricity at Drifblim.

"There's no way he should know Thunder Punch unless he's been trained. He's probably upset that his trainer left him here." Jordan said. Scrafty heard and gave a guttural roar, charging at Drifblim and throwing the Thunder Punch, sending Drifblim flying into the cave. Scrafty made to follow, but Blake dove to intercept him.

"Stop! Just cause you're pissed that your trainer left you doesn't mean you need to take it out on these Slowpoke!" Scrafty's eyes narrowed and he jumped at Blake who fell to the ground to avoid the attack.

"Blake, I don't think that making him angrier is the best idea!" Jordan called. "Xatu, go help him out!" Xatu had picked himself up, and took to the sky again, flying straight up before going into a dive. Scrafty was too occupied with Blake to notice the bird barreling into his back until it happened. Xatu carried Scrafty a few yards before slamming him into a tree. The reptilian Pokémon winced as it hit the ground. Blake scrambled to his feet as Drifblim floated back into sight.

"Thunderbolt!" Drifblim launched a volley of electrical bolts at the sitting Scrafty, stunning it and leaving it smoking. Blake grabbed a Pokéball and tossed it at the wild Pokémon.

"Blake! What are you doing? That thing's vicious!" Jordan said.

"We have to get it off this island! Otherwise it'll stay and attack the Slowpoke! And maybe having a trainer again will be good for it." Jordan bit her lip, but nodded. The ball containing Scrafty shook violently, rolling across the ground. It was evident that the Pokémon was not pleased, but it couldn't summon enough energy to break loose and after a few minutes, the ball was still. The island's Slowpoke were in an uproar, or at least that's what Blake assumed the noise was.

"You've saved us! We can now live in peace." Slowking gave a content sigh.

"I hate to be terribly rude, but we are in a hurry. Glad we could help, but we need to go." Jordan gave an apologetic shrug and turned away.

"Wait! I have one last request." Jordan faced Slowking again.

"Yes?"

"Take my nephew with you. He was about to succeed me as leader of this clan, but he has asked to follow you. One moment." Slowking tottered off into the cave, returning with another shell crown like the one he wore. The Slowpoke they had rescued on the beach stepped forward, and his uncle placed the crown on his head. Slowpoke began to glow, and he stood on two feet: he had evolved into a Slowking like his uncle. The new Slowking faced Jordan and spoke hesitantly.

"..p..please take.. take me with you." It appeared that he wasn't very comfortable with the human language yet, but he was eager to help. Jordan nodded, and pulled a ball off of her own belt.

"Are you sure?" Slowking nodded, and Jordan focused the ball's energy on him. A flash of light, and Slowking was inside the ball.

"Take care of him! And yourselves!" The older Slowking waved goodbye, and the Slowpoke disappeared back to where they had come from. Jordan and Blake headed back toward the beach where they had landed.

"I wasn't expecting to stay here so long. We're not going to be able to stop again if we want to get there soon." Jordan said, and Blake nodded.

"Let's get going, then."


	21. Chapter 21

"Is this it?" Blake had to shout to be heard over the roaring motors, but Jordan managed to hear him and nodded. They coasted the next hundred yards and slowed as they approached the sandy shore. The jet skis sputtered for a moment before dying, and Blake and Jordan both climbed off of their skis.

"God, I'm sore." Blake stretched himself out, yawning as he did. "So, we're here. What do we do?"

"Uh, Professor Birch didn't really say. Something about a special bond."

"Think we should make out?" Blake winked at her, managing to dodge the punch she threw.

"Shut up. If there is a legendary Pokémon here, there's probably a relic of some sort, like the one in the forest. I guess we explore for now." She motioned towards the interior of the island, and began to lead the way. The island was mostly barren, with cliffs lining it. The plant life was limited to some small plants and a few lonely trees. It was strangely noiseless, in almost an eerie fashion. Without thinking, Blake stepped closer to Jordan as they hiked up a small, rocky path. Blake took the lead as the path began to spiral to a peak, with Jordan following closely behind.

"Be careful, it's pretty narrow." Blake commented as they reached a short ledge. He tossed his bag across the gap, then put his back to the cliffside and began sliding across the narrow ledge. It wasn't a large gap, and only took a few seconds to traverse. Jordan tossed her bag to him, and he placed it on the ground, reaching out to give a hand if necessary. As soon as he did, Jordan slipped and lost her footing, panicking and reaching for his outstretched arm. Blake gasped and grabbed her hand, pulling her into himself before she could fall. The two tumbled backwards, landing on the bags.

"Ow." Jordan opened her eyes and looked into Blake's face. She blinked quickly, before realizing that she must be on top of him and rolled off in a panic, nearly toppling off the larger ledge they were now on.

"Take it easy." Blake grabbed her again, helping her into a sitting position. They both took a deep breath. "Let's just move slowly. Not that I mind being so close to you, but I'd prefer we didn't keep using the same lead up. Jordan rolled her eyes, but nodded. They stood. "Alright. Carefully this time." He started to lead the way up the peak again. The rest of the hike was uneventful compared to the first leg, much to their pleasure. The top of the peak was flat, and only about thirty feet across. It wasn't hard to see what the point of this mountain was: two similar stone pillars sat in the center of the peak. They were only a couple of feet high, and one looked to be slightly smaller than the other. As they moved closer, Blake noticed what looked like runes carved into the pillars.

"Think these are relics?" he asked.

"Yeah. They look a little different than the one in the forest, but I'd say these are it. I just don't know what we should do to trigger them."

"The offer from before still stands." Blake wasn't quick enough to dodge this time, earning a solid punch to the shoulder.

"I was kidding.." He winced, rubbing his arm. "I don't know, though. It's be a start if we knew what these markings meant." Blake absentmindedly rubbed the markings on the larger stone. Jordan touched the other pillar, running a finger over one of the runes carved in it. As soon as she did, both stones began to glow: the smaller one was a brilliant red, and the larger was a deep blue.

"I think we did it." The stones began to glow as if they were heating up, and the ground shook lightly. Jordan moved closer to Blake, who put his arm around her. They both watched the relics cautiously, when the lights died suddenly and the ground ceased shaking.

"Uh. What?"

"That was anticlimactic." Jordan let out her breath, making Blake realize he had been holding his own. They stood for a moment, watching the unmoving rocks. With no noticeable change, they faced each other, blank expressions on their faces.

"I guess.. I guess they're not here anymore." He sighed and turned with Jordan to face the path back down to the beach.

"AAH!" Both trainers shouted, falling to the ground as they faced the two levitating Pokémon, who watched curiously. Both looked like a mix between a bird and a reptile, having what looked like wings that didn't flap as they floated in front of the trainers. The difference between the two was the markings: the smaller had red markings and the larger of the two was blue, just like the stones that had been glowing moments before. Blake's heart was racing from the surprise factor, but he was the first to recover from the shock.

"Uh.. Hi. I'm Blake." He nudged Jordan, who jumped before blinking rapidly to clear her confusion.

"I'm Jordan." The two Pokémon floated closer as if they were inspecting the two humans in front of them.

_"Why are you here?"_ The voice echoed in Blake's mind, like Suicune's had in the Icy Path. There was no physical indication as to which Pokémon was speaking, but both trainers knew that it had to be one of them. The voice sounded slightly masculine, and Blake assumed it was the larger blue one.

"We need your help. There are evil humans that are up to no good, and they want to come and capture the Pokémon from all the myths. They mean you harm, as long as they can harness your power." Jordan started to explain.

_"This, we know."_ A slightly lighter voice, with a touch of gentleness and sorrow. _"I am Latias, and he is Latios. We have heard of the evil humans."_

_"What is to prove that you are not evil?" _The male voice spoke again.

_"Don't be absurd. You can sense their motives as much as I can."_ Latias spoke mentally to her brother, allowing the trainers to hear as well. Latios bowed his head towards her.

_"Yes. But I wish to hear what they plan to do with us."_

"We're not going to do anything with you!" Blake interjected. "We're asking for your help! You're free to ignore us, but as condescending as it sounds, we're your only hope right now!" Latios jumped forward into Blake's face.

_"Do you think, boy, that we, who have stood the test of time centuries before you were even thought of, require YOUR help?" _Anger was evident although the mental voice remained level.

"Yes." Blake stood his ground. "And we need you. The evil ones are more powerful than we can handle right now, and you won't be able to take them on alone either. Work with us." The Pokémon looked at each other, shutting the humans out of the conversation.

_"We will not go with you." _Latios said.

_"But we will be there for you," _Latias continued, _"when the time comes. Goodbye." _Neither Blake nor Jordan knew what happened, as the two Pokémon seemingly vanished without a trace.

"Uh. I guess that's a success?" Blake looked at Jordan, who shrugged.

"I don't see what more we can do. We'll have to take their word for it. Should we camp here for the night? It's late."

"Yeah." They started unpacking their gear. "Hey, look. A shooting star."

Above an island miles away, a meteor streaked through the sky. Two uniformed men watched as it came hurtling towards them, but didn't move at all. It moved closer and closer, glowing from the intense heat it was radiating. It sped towards the land, but still the men remained. The impact caused both to cover their faces, but as the shockwave died down, they moved closer to the meteor. The stone was glowing still, and seemed to be bubbling.

"It's a good thing your calculations were correct. I'm a damn fool for trusting you, but it's a good thing you were right."

"What would you have done if we had been hit? It's not like you could have done worse." The second man grabbed some sort of small microchip. "Now, to take care of this." The meteor continued to bubble, and seemed to evaporate. The men weren't shocked at all: they had been expecting as much. The man holding the chip tossed it at the forming liquid mass of orange goo. The chip disappeared into the liquid, and the men turned, not even bothering to watch the humanoid shape take form.

"That was easy." The first man spoke.

"Don't get lazy. The others won't be so easy." Finally, the fully formed humanoid hovered behind the men. It stood as high as either man, but was made of different colors of semi-solid material: orange, green, and black.

"Come, Deoxys."


	22. Chapter 22

"You're slowing me down, and I'm not going to tolerate it. Hurry up, or I'll leave you."

"You sort of need me to get into the temple." I said, causing the other trainer to turn around and glare at me. This was Ivan, a notable dragon trainer and a member of an organization I was also part of. I had just met him, but he didn't seem to feel like I deserved much respect.

"You're still holding us up. The others are waiting at the temple." Ivan turned and trudged through the snow, pulling his hood over his head as if to prevent further conversation. I sighed and pushed on. I didn't like the snow. It wasn't that I minded the cold or anything. It just seemed to take extra effort to walk through and hindered your vision. Troublesome.

We were already close, so Ivan's outburst was a little uncalled for. Not that I was going to say as much. He was a few years older than me and much taller, and although I had a feeling that he wouldn't actually beat me up, he would be willing to scare me. I had never been to this temple before, but I knew that I held the key to unlocking the inner sanctum, where a powerful Pokémon was said to slumber. I fingered the crystal pendant around my neck. It was very ordinary, just a clear crystal, but it held immense value to me. A group of warmly dressed people stood in front of the temple entrance, and I assumed they were our company. One, another older boy took down his hood and nodded at us. I took in a sharp breath, which he noticed.

"What?" He asked. It sounds silly, but he looked just like my older brother, at least at a distance and with snow in my face. He was probably close to the same age, just short of twenty, with thick brown hair. As I uncharacteristically gaped at him, the only difference I could notice was in eye color. His were a cold blue while my brother's were green.

"Sorry," I said, "you just seemed familiar. Are you waiting for us? I'm Noah." I'm not usually the first to volunteer information, but I was trying to dig myself out of the awkward situation I was in. The older boy nodded.

"Isaac." He stepped behind the others, who introduced themselves.

"I'm Mason." Another guy, still a little older than me, but probably not as much. He was pretty dark though, which seemed out of place in such a cold environment. He was dressed in heavier clothing than Isaac, implying that he wasn't too comfortable with the cold. I couldn't really blame him, as I wasn't much on it either. I decided that I liked Mason, even without much to go on. At least he wasn't as abrasive as Ivan.

"Stella." I hadn't noticed the girl at first, or even that she was a girl, probably due to the heavy clothing that obscured most of her features. Still, she was pretty cute. Older than me still. I sighed inwardly. It sort of sucked to be the youngest here. I looked back at her. She had grey hair and grey eyes. Weird, I guess, but I wasn't going to say something. She seemed terribly bored by everything.

"Let's head inside, then." Isaac took the lead and opened the door.

The inside of the temple looked as rustic as the outside, and was only slightly warmer. Did I mention that I hated the cold? It was a pretty nondescript building, with ritual altars and statues and candelabras. If that's your idea of nondescript. We headed through the ground floor room to a dusty staircase. Cobwebs were a pretty good signal that it hadn't been used in a while, but it appeared that some were broken. It didn't look like any of the others noticed, but I decided not to mention it. I was probably just being nervous. I tried to make conversation with Stella.

"So, where are you from?"

"I'm from Hoenn. Rustboro City. My dad runs the Devon Corporation, so he doesn't really keep much of an eye on me. I usually live with my brother in Mossdeep City. When I'm not working, that is. I'm our resident steel trainer." She showed me the pendant she wore around her neck.

"Oh, that's cool." What can I say? I'm charming to a fault. "Uh, I've got a crystal too." She smiled as if she were pitying my awkwardness. "Right, you knew that." I showed my own necklace with the clear crystal.

"Normal, right? Strategically, it's pretty sound. You don't have to worry about much in battles."

"I'm not big on battling anyway. I mean, I'm not afraid or anything. It just seems like a waste of time. Why fight when you can just solve problems in a better way?" It was true. I wasn't much of a fighter, and neither were my Pokémon. My partner Pokémon, Smeargle, was my oldest friend, and we'd both rather mess around than train.

"I hate to tell you, but there's going to be a whole lot of fighting. We're not collecting these Pokémon for fun." She gave a grim smile. "You're a good kid, I think. Be careful." She turned her head away from me and sped up. I hurried to match her pace.

"I'm not a kid. I can handle myself." I was eager to prove myself. Today was an odd day for me. I shouldn't be so worked up over this, but I wanted a chance to show her that I didn't need protection.

Or so I thought. We reached the bottom floor, the basement where the wall had been sealed. I had seen a picture of it, so I had a vague idea of what to expect, but what we saw was nothing like the picture. Uniformed men and women stood with power drills, attempting to break their way into the vault behind the temple wall.

"Hey!" Ivan was the first to yell, which didn't surprise me. He was a hothead, and had already pulled a Pokéball from his belt. One of the grunts detached from the group to take care of him, launching his own Pokémon into the fight. I didn't bother watching. Ivan would be fine. The three crystal trainers aside from myself chose their own Pokémon. Isaac sent out a Walrein and paired off with Mason, who chose an Archeops. Two grunts stepped in front of Stella, who had sent out her Mawile. I sighed. Looks like I'll have to battle too.

I chose my own Pokémon after a moment of thought. I had to be honest with myself. None of my Pokémon were particularly strong, probably due to my lack of training. However, we were smart.

"Kecleon, play it safe in the shadows." Kecleon had the nifty ability to camouflage itself for sneak attacks. I felt a little bad for leaving Stella to handle our opponents alone, but I wasn't above using Kecleon for some cheap shots.

"You're using a Kecleon? What a worthless Pokémon. A real trainer like us would never be caught dead using such a weak Pokémon. Team Galactic is about to show you real strength." We were up against two middle aged men who obviously had nothing better to do with their lives than mess with kids who could probably beat the shit out of them. They each tossed out a Pokémon: one Gliscor and one Krookodile. Gliscor immediately dove at the only target apparent to it, but Mawile was quick and caught the scorpion Pokémon in its false mouth, spinning and slamming it on the ground.

"There's our opening! Shadow Sneak!" Kecleon appeared in front of the skidding Gliscor and slammed it into the ground. Hard. It felt extra good because the trainer of the Gliscor was the one with all the insults. I cracked a smile, but it quickly disappeared as Krookodile slammed Mawile hard enough to cause it to barrel into Kecleon. Gliscor picked this moment to return to the air.

"Gliscor, put some Spikes down!" Gliscor spread a volley of spikes around the floor, limiting movement and giving the Galactics the advantage.

"Sand Tomb!" Sand spread out from both Pokémon and surrounded Stella's Mawile, causing it to stumble and choke. I had to do something.

"Faint Attack on Gliscor!" Kecleon became invisible once more, before reappearing directly above Gliscor and slamming it into the ground, directly on some of the spikes he had laid down. "Ice Beam." There was no way Kecleon could miss, and with a type advantage here, I was hoping Gliscor would be out of commission. Ice crystals formed on its body, confirming my thought. Some of the sand let up, enough for Mawile to break its way out of the tomb. Kecleon jumped back as Gliscor was recalled. Gliscor's trainer made to call out another Pokémon, but his partner stopped him.

"Don't worry. I got this. Krookodile, use Outrage!" Krookodile began to let off steam, as if overheating. It charged at our Pokémon, disregarding the spikes on the ground.

"Kecleon, take off!" Kecleon seemed to know what I was thinking, and jumped on Mawile's horn.

"Noah, what are you -oh!" Mawile had launched my Pokémon in Krookodile's direction, and Stella picked up on my plan. "Use Iron Head!" For a moment, it appeared that Mawile would hit Kecleon, but at the last second, Kecleon disappeared again, Sucker Punching Krookodile in the back as it collided with Mawile. The alligator Pokémon flipped in midair and slammed into the ground, collecting the spikes as it slid into the wall. He was quickly recalled.

"Want to keep going?" I offered. Both men gave glares and palmed another Pokéball before scanning the room: their teammates had been destroyed as well. They deflated as the fight visibly left both of them. I gave them a smirk.

"We'll be glad to beat you any time, boys." Stella turned and shot a withering glare at me, so I shut up.

"You haven't seen the last of Team Galactic!" One of the grunts, perhaps a leader, tossed a smoke grenade which immediately began spewing gas. I recalled Kecleon and covered my face as quickly as I could, but the smoke still hurt my eyes and throat. Sure enough, when the smoke cleared, the Galactics were gone.

"Well, we don't have any time to waste." Ivan broke the silence. "Get on with it, then." He made a dismissing motion, apparently uninterested. I made eye contact with Isaac, who was rolling his eyes. He, Stella and Mason all removed a Pokéball from their belts, calling out the legendary Pokémon we would need to get through the hidden door. As the golems formed from the flash of light, three gems on the wall began to glow in red, blue, and white. The ground shook as the wall began to separate down the middle, with just enough space for us to fit through. We walked a few steps through the narrow hallway into a cavern. There stood a colossal Pokémon, the master of the golems: Regigigas. Its voice rumbled out to us, the volume causing rubble to fall from the ceiling as we winced in pain.

_"I…have… awakened."_


End file.
